M^ 


/ 


LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 

PRESENTED  BY 

MRS.  WILLIAM  GLASSFORD 


William  aLAssFo»H> 


The  duchess  of  berry 


Court  of  Charles  X 


iS^a^e     /wt^r^^^-^H.^^^.^--^ 


THE 


Duchess  of  Berry 


COURT  OF  CHARLES  X 


BY 

IMBERT   DE   SAINT-AMAND 


WITH  PORTRAITS 


NEW   YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1901 


COPYRIGHT,  1893,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS. 


THE  CAXTON  PRESS 
NEW  YORK. 


DC 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALFFORMA 
SA:>TA  BAi;i3ArtA 


CONTENTS 


CHAFTSB  FASB 

I.     The  Accession  op  Charles  X 1 

II.     The  Entry  into  Paris 11 

III.  The  Tombs  of  Saint-Denis 20 

IV.  The  Funeral  of  Louis  XVIII 29 

V.     The  King 41 

VT.     The  Dauphin  and  Dauphiness 48 

VIL     Madame o 58 

Vni.     The  Orleans  Family 72 

IX.     The  Prince  of  Conde 81 

X.     The  Court 90 

XI.     The  Duke  of  Doudeauville 104 

XII.     The  Household  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry 114 

XIII.  The  Preparations  for  the  Coronation 123 

XIV.  The  Coronation 139 

XV.     Close  of  the  Sojourn  at  Rheims 152 

XVI.    The  Re-entrance  into  Paris 160 

XVII.     The  Jubilee  of  1826 166 

XVIII.     The  Duchess  of  Gontaut 177 

V 


vi  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAOK 

XIX.    The  Three  Governors 187 

XX.    The  Keview  of  the  National  Guard 198 

XXI.     The  First  Disquietude 208 

XXIL     The  Martignac  Ministry 217 

XXni.     The  Journey  in  the  West 224 

XXrV.     The  Mary  Stuart  Ball 237 

XXV.     The  Fine  Arts 245 

XXVI.     The  Theatre  of  Madame 257 

XXVn.     Dieppe 266 

XXVin.     The  Prince  de  Polignac 276 

XXIX.     General  de  Bourmont 286 

XXX.     The  Journey  in  the  South 292 


LIST  OF  PORTRAITS 

Mabi^  Caroline Frontispiece 

Charles  X Facing  page  42 

The  Duke  of  Bordeaux  and  his  Sister        .        .        .    183 
Prince  de  Polignac .    280 


THE   DUCHESS    OF  BERRY  AND  THE 
COURT  OF  CHARLES  X 


THE  ACCESSION  OF   CHAELES  X 

THURSDAY,  the  16tli  of  September,  1824,  at  the 
moment  when  Louis  XVIII.  was  breathing  his 
last  in  his  chamber  of  the  Chateau  des  Tuileries, 
the  courtiers  were  gathered  in  the  Gallery  of  Diana. 
It  was  four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  Duke  and 
the  Duchess  of  Angouleme,  the  Duchess  of  Berry, 
the  Duke  and  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  the  Bishop  of 
Hermopolis,  and  the  physicians  were  in  the  chamber 
of  the  dying  man.  When  the  King  had  given  up 
the  ghost,  the  Duke  of  Angouleme,  who  became 
Dauphin,  threw  himself  at  the  feet  of  his  father, 
who  became  King,  and  kissed  his  hand  with  respect- 
ful tenderness.  The  princes  and  princesses  followed 
this  example,  and  he  who  bore  thenceforward  the 
title  of  Charles  X.,  sobbing,  embraced  them  all. 
They  knelt  about  the  bed.  The  Be  Profundis  was 
recited.     Then  the  new  King  sprinkled  holy  water 

1 


TEE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 


on  the  body  of  his  brother  and  kissed  the  icy  hand. 
An  instant  later  M.  de  Blacas,  opening  the  door  of 
the  Gallery  of  Diana,  called  out:  "Gentlemen,  the 
King!"    And  Charles  X.  appeared. 

Let  us  listen  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans.  "At 
these  words,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  all  the 
crowd  of  courtiers  deserted  the  Gallery  to  surround 
and  follow  the  new  King.  It  was  like  a  torrent. 
We  were  borne  along  by  it,  and  only  at  the  door  of 
the  Hall  of  the  Throne,  my  husband  bethought  him- 
self that  we  no  longer  had  aught  to  do  there.  We 
returned  home,  reflecting  much  on  the  feebleness  of 
our  poor  humanity,  and  the  nothingness  of  the 
things  of  this  world." 

Marshal  Marmont,  who  was  in  the  Gallery  of 
Diana  at  the  moment  of  the  King's  death,  was  much 
struck  by  the  two  plirases  pronounced  at  an  instant's 
interval  by  M.  de  Damas :  "  Gentlemen,  the  King  is 
dead !     The  King,  gentlemen !  " 

He  wrote  in  his  Memoirs :  "  It  is  difficult  to  de- 
scribe the  sensation  produced  by  this  double  an- 
nouncement in  so  brief  a  time.  The  new  sovereign 
was  surrounded  by  his  officers,  and  everything  except 
the  person  of  the  King  was  in  the  accustomed  order. 
Beautiful  and  great  thought,  this  uninterrupted  life 
of  the  depository  of  the  sovereign  power!  By  this 
fiction  there  is  no  break  in  this  protecting  force,  so 
necessary  to  the  preservation  of  society."  The  Mar- 
shal adds :  "  The  government  had  been  in  fact  for  a 
year  and  more  in  the  hands  of  Monsieur.     Thus  the 


THE  ACCESSION  OF  CHARLES  X  3 

same  order  of  things  was  to  continue ;  nevertheless, 
there  was  emotion  perceptible  on  the  faces  of  those 
present;  one  might  see  hopes  spring  up  and  exist- 
ences wither.  Every  one  accompanied  the  new 
King  to  his  Pavilion  of  Marsan.  He  announced  to 
his  ministers  that  he  confirmed  them  in  their  func- 
tions.    Then  every  one  withdrew." 

While  the  Duchess  of  Berry  was  present  at  the 
death  of  Louis  XVIII.,  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  and 
his  sister,  Mademoiselle,  then,  the  one  four,  the 
other  five  years  of  age,  remained  at  the  Chateau  of 
Saint  Cloud,  with  the  Governess  of  the  Children  of 
France,  the  Viscountess  of  Gontaut-Biron.  This 
lady  passed  the  night  of  the  15th  of  September  in 
great  anxiety.  She  listened  on  the  balcony,  await- 
ing and  dreading  the  news. 

At  the  moment  that  the  day  began  to  dawn,  she 
heard  afar  the  gallop,  of  a  horse  that  drew  near, 
passed  the  bridge,  ascended  the  avenue,  reached  the 
ChS/teau,  and  in  response  to  the  challenge  of  the 
guard,  she  distinguished  the  words:  "An  urgent 
message  for  Madame  the  Governess."  It  was  a 
letter  from  the  new  King.  Madame  de  Gontaut 
trembled  as  she  opened  it.  Charles  X.  announced 
to  her,  in  sad  words,  that  Louis  XVIII.  was  no  more, 
and  directed  her  to  made  ready  for  the  arrival  of  the 
royal  family.  "  Lodge  me  where  you  and  the  gover- 
nor shall  see  fit.  We  shall  probably  pass  three  or  four 
days  at  Saint  Cloud.  Communicate  my  letter  to  the 
Marshal.    I  have  not  strength  to  write  another  word. " 


THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 


"The  day  was  beginning  to  break,"  we  read  in 
the  unpublished  Memoirs  of  the  Governess  of  the 
Children  of  France.  "  I  went  to  the  bed  of  Monsei- 
gneur.  He  was  awakened.  He  was  not  surprised, 
and  said  nothing,  and  allowed  himself  to  be  dressed. 
Not  so  with  Mademoiselle.  I  told  her  gently  of  the 
misfortune  that  had  come  upon  her  family.  I  was 
agitated.  She  questioned  me,  asking  where  was 
hon-papa.  I  told  her  that  he  was  still  in  Paris,  but 
was  coming  to  Saint  Cloud;  then  I  added:  'Your 
hon-papa^  Mademoiselle,  is  King,  since  the  King  is 
no  more.'  She  reflected,  then,  repeating  the  word: 
'King!  Oh!  that  indeed  is  the  worst  of  the  story.' 
I  was  astonished,  and  wished  her  to  explain  her  idea; 
she  simply  repeated  it.  I  thought  then  she  had  con- 
ceived the  notion  of  a  king  always  rolled  about  in 
his  chair." 

The  same  day  the  court  arrived.  It  was  no  longer 
the  light  carriage  that  used  almost  daily  to  bring 
Monsieur,  to  the  great  joy  of  his  grandchildren.  It 
was  the  royal  coach  with  eight  horses,  livery,  escort, 
and  body-guard.  The  Duke  of  Bordeaux  and  his 
sister  were  on  the  porch  with  their  governess.  On 
perceiving  the  coach,  instead  of  shouting  with  pleas- 
ure, as  was  their  custom,  they  remained  motionless 
and  abashed.  Charles  X.  was  pale  and  silent.  In 
the  vestibule  he  paused :  "  What  chamber  have  you 
prepared  for  me  ?  "  he  said  sadly  to  Madame  de  Gon- 
taut,  glancing  at  the  door  of  his  own.  The  gover- 
ness replied:  "The  apartment  of  Monsieur  is  ready, 


THE  ACCESSION  OF  CHARLES  X 


and  the  chamber  of  the  King  as  well."  The  sover- 
eign paused,  then  clasping  his  hands  in  silence :  "  It 
must  be!  "  he  cried.     "Let  us  ascend." 

They  followed  him.  He  passed  through  the  apart- 
ments. On  the  threshold  of  the  royal  chamber 
Madame  de  Gontaut  brought  to  Charles  X.  the  Duke 
of  Bordeaux  and  Mademoiselle  and  he  embraced 
them.  The  poor  chikben  were  disconcerted  by  so 
much  sadness.  "As  soon  as  I  can,"  he  said  to  them, 
*'I  promise  to  come  to  see  you."  Then  turning  to 
the  company:  "I  would  be  alone."  All  withdrew  in 
silence.  The  Dauphiness  was  weeping.  The  Dau- 
phin had  disappeared.  Everything  was  gloomy.  No 
one  spoke.  Thus  passed  the  first  day  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  X. 

The  next  day  the  King  received  the  felicitations 
of  the  Corps  de  I'Etat.  Many  addresses  were  de- 
livered. "  All  contained  the  expression  of  the  pub- 
lic love,"  said  Marshal  Marmont  in  his  Memoirs, 
"  and  I  believe  that  they  were  sincere ;  but  the  love 
of  the  people  is,  of  all  loves,  the  most  fragile, 
the  most  apt  to  evaporate.  The  King  responded  in 
an  admirable  manner,  with  appropriateness,  intelli- 
gence, and  warmth.  His  responses,  less  correct,  per- 
haps, than  those  of  Louis  XVIII. ,  had  movement  and 
spirit,  and  it  is  so  precious  to  hear  from  those  in- 
vested with  the  sovereign  powers  things  that  come 
from  the  heart,  that  Charles  X.  had  a  great  success. 
I  listened  to  him  with  care,  and  I  sincerely  admired 
his  facility  in  varying  his  language  and  modifying 


THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 


his   expressions   according  to  the  eminence  of  the 
authority  from  whom  the  compliments  came." 

The  reception  lasted  several  hours.  When  the 
coaches  had  rolled  away  and  when  quiet  was  re-es- 
tablished in  the  Chsiteau  of  Saint  Cloud,  Charles  X., 
in  the  mourning  costume  of  the  Kings,  the  violet 
coat,  went  to  the  apartment  of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux 
and  his  sister.  The  usher  cried:  "The  King  I  " 
The  two  children,  frightened,  and  holding  each  other 
by  the  hand,  remained  silent.  Charles  X.  opened  his 
arms  and  they  threw  themselves  into  them.  Then  the 
sovereign  seated  himself  in  his  accustomed  chair  and 
held  his  grandchildren  for  some  moments  pressed  to 
his  heart.  The  Duke  of  Bordeaux  covered  the  hands 
and  the  face  of  his  grandfather  with  kisses.  Made- 
moiselle regarded  attentively  the  altered  features  of 
the  King  and  his  mourning  dress,  novel  to  her.  She 
asked  him  why  he  wore  such  a  coat.  Charles  X.  did 
not  reply,  and  sighed.  Then  he  questioned  the  gov- 
erness as  to  the  impression  made  on  the  children  by 
the  death  of  Louis  XVIII.  Madame  de  Gontaut 
hesitated  to  answer,  recalling  the  strange  phrase  of 
Mademoiselle:  "King  I  Oh  I  that  indeed  is  the 
worst  of  the  story."  But  the  little  Princess,  cling- 
ing to  her  notion,  began  to  repeat  the  unlucky  phi-ase. 
Charles  X. ,  willing  to  give  it  a  favorable  interpreta- 
tion, assured  Mademoiselle  that  he  would  see  her  as 
often  as  in  the  past,  and  that  nothing  should  sepa- 
rate him  from  her.  The  two  children,  with  the  heed- 
lessness of  their  age,  took  on  their  usual  gaiety,  and 


THE  ACCESSION  OF  CHARLES  X 


ran  to  tlie  window  to  watch  the  market-men,  the 
coal  heavers,  and  the  fishwomen,  who  had  come  to 
Saint  Cloud  to  congratulate  the  new  King. 

The  griefs  of  sovereigns  in  the  period  of  their 
prosperity  do  not  last  so  long  as  those  of  private 
persons.  Courtiers  take  too  much  pains  to  lighten 
them.  With  Charles  X.  grief  at  the  loss  of  his 
brother  was  quickly  followed  by  the  enjoyment  of 
reigning.  Chateaubriand,  who,  when  he  wished  to, 
had  the  art  of  carrying  flattery  to  lyi-ic  height,  pub- 
lished his  pamphlet:  Le  roi  est  mortf  Vive  le  roif 
In  it  he  said;  "Frenchmen,  he  who  announced  to 
you  Louis  le  Ddsird,  who  made  his  voice  heard  by 
you  in  the  days  of  storm,  and  makes  to  you  to-day 
of  Charles  X.  in  circumstances  very  different.  He  is 
no  longer  obliged  to  tell  you  what  the  King  is  who 
comes  to  you,  what  his  misfortunes  are,  his  virtues, 
his  rights  to  the  throne  and  to  your  love ;  he  is  no 
longer  obliged  to  depict  his  person,  to  inform  you 
how  many  members  of  his  family  still  exist.  You 
know  him,  this  Bourbon,  the  first  to  come,  after  our 
disaster,  worthy  herald  of  old  France,  to  cast  him- 
self, a  branch  of  lilies  in  his  hand,  between  you  and 
Europe.  Your  eyes  rest  with  love  and  pleasure  on 
this  Prince,  who  in  the  ripeness  of  years  has  pre- 
served the  charm  and  elegance  of  his  youth,  and 
who  now,  adorned  with  the  diadem,  still  is  but  one 
Frenchman  the  more  in  the  midst  of  you.  You  repeat 
with  emotion  so  many  happy  mots  dropped  by  this 
new  monarch,  who  from  the  loyalty  of  his  heart  draws 


8  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

the  grace  of  happy  speech.  What  one  of  us  would 
not  confide  to  him  his  life,  his  fortune,  his  honor? 
The  man  whom  we  should  all  wish  as  a  friend,  we 
have  as  King.  Ah!  Let  us  try  to  make  him  forget 
the  sacrifices  of  his  life  I  May  the  crown  weigh 
lightly  on  the  white  head  of  this  Christian  Knight  1 
Pious  as  Saint  Louis,  affable,  compassionate,  and 
just  as  Louis  XII.,  courtly  as  Francis  I.,  frank  as 
Henry  IV.,  may  he  be  happy  with  all  the  happiness 
he  has  missed  in  his  long  past  I  May  the  throne 
where  so  many  monarchs  have  encountered  tempests, 
be  for  him  a  place  of  repose  1  Devoted  subjects,  let 
us  crowd  to  the  feet  of  our  well-loved  sovereign,  let 
us  recognize  in  him  the  model  of  honor,  the  living 
principle  of  our  laws,  the  soul  of  our  monarchical 
society;  let  us  bless  a  guardian  heredity,  and  may 
legitimacy  without  pangs  give  birth  to  a  new  King  I 
Let  our  soldiers  cover  with  their  flags  the  father  of 
the  Duke  of  Angouleme.  May  watchful  Europe, 
may  the  factions,  if  such  there  be  still,  see  in  the 
accord  of  all  Frenchmen,  in  the  union  of  the  people 
and  the  army,  the  pledge  of  our  strength  and  of  the 
peace  of  the  world  I"  The  author  of  the  Grenie  du 
Christianisme  thus  closed  his  prose  dithyramb :  "  May 
God  grant  to  Louis  XVIII.  the  crown  immortal  of 
Saint  Louis  I  May  God  bless  the  mortal  crown  of 
Saint  Louis  on  the  head  of  Charles  X.  I  " 

In  this  chant  in  honor  of  the  King  and  of  royalty, 
M.  de  Chateaubriand  did  not  forget  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  of  Angouleme,  nor  the  Duchess  of  Berry  and 


THE  ACCESSION  OF  CHARLES  X  9 

the  Duke  of  Bordeaux.  "Let  us  salute,"  he  said, 
"  the  Dauphin  and  Dauphiness,  names  that  bind  the 
past  to  the  future,  calling  up  touching  and  noble 
memories,  indicating  the  own  son  and  the  successor 
of  the  monarch,  names  under  which  we  find  the 
liberator  of  Spain  and  the  daughter  of  Louis  XVI. 
The  child  of  Europe^  the  new  Henry,  thus  makes  one 
step  toward  the  throne  of  his  ancestor,  and  his 
young  mother  guides  him  to  the  throne  that  she 
might  have  ascended." 

Happy  in  the  ease  with  which  the  change  in  the 
reign  had  taken  place,  and  seeing  the  unanimous 
manifestations  of  devotion  and  enthusiasm  by  which 
the  throne  was  surrounded,  the  Duchess  of  Berry 
regarded  the  future  with  entire  confidence.  Inclined 
by  nature  to  optimism,  the  young  and  amiable  Prin- 
cess believed  herself  specially  protected  by  Provi- 
dence, and  would  have  considered  as  a  sort  of  impi- 
ety anything  else  than  absolute  faith  in  the  duration 
of  the  monarchy  and  in  respect  for  the  rights  of  her 
son.  Had  any  one  of  the  court  expressed  the  slight- 
est doubt  as  to  the  future  destiny  of  the  Child  of 
Miracle^  he  would  have  been  looked  upon  as  an  alarm- 
ist or  a  coward.  The  royalists  were  simple  enough 
to  believe  that,  thanks  to  this  child,  the  era  of  revo- 
lutions was  forever  closed.  They  said  to  themselves 
that  French  royalty,  like  British  royalty,  would  have 
its  Whigs  and  its  Tories,  but  that  it  was  forever  rid 
of  Republicans  and  Imperialists.  At  the  accession  of 
Charles  X.  the  word  Republican,  become  a  synonpn 


10  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

of  Jacobin,  awoke  only  memories  of  the  guillotine 
and  the  ""Terror."  A  moderate  republic  seemed  but 
a  chimera ;  only  that  of  Robespierre  and  Marat  was 
thought  of.  The  eagle  was  no  longer  mentioned; 
and  as  to  the  eaglet,  he  was  a  prisoner  at  Vienna. 
What  chance  of  reigning  had  the  Duke  of  Reich- 
stadt,  that  child  of  thirteen,  condemned  by  all  the 
Powers  of  Europe  ?  By  what  means  could  he  mount 
the  throne  ?  Who  would  be  regent  in  his  name  ?  A 
Bonaparte?  The  forgetful  Marie  Louise?  Such 
hypotheses  were  relegated  to  the  domain  of  pure 
fantasy.  Apart  from  a  few  fanatical  old  soldiers 
who  persisted  in  saying  that  Napoleon  was  not  dead, 
no  one,  in  1824,  believed  in  the  resurrection  of  the 
Empire.  As  for  Orleanism,  it  was  as  yet  a  myth. 
The  Duke  of  Orleans  himself  was  not  an  Orleanist. 
Of  all  the  courtiers  of  Charles  X.,  he  was  the  most 
eager,  the  most  zealous,  the  most  enthusiastic.  In 
whatever  direction  she  turned  her  glance,  the  Duch- 
ess of  Berry  saw  about  her  only  reasons  for  satisfac- 
tion and  security. 


II 

THE  ENTRY  INTO  PARIS 

THE  Duchess  of  Berry  took  part  in  the  solemn 
entry  into  Paris  made  by  Charles  X.,  Monday, 
27th  September,  1824.  She  was  in  the  same  carriage 
as  the  Dauphiness  and  the  Duchess  and  Mademoi- 
selle of  Orleans.  The  King  left  the  Chateau  of  Saint 
Cloud  at  half-past  eleven  in  the  morning,  passed 
through  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  and  mounted  his 
horse  at  the  Barriere  de  I'Etoile.  There  he  was 
saluted  by  a  salvo  of  one  hundred  and  one  guns,  and 
the  Count  de  Chambral,  Prefect  of  the  Seine,  sur- 
rounded by  the  members  of  the  Municipal  Council, 
presented  to  him  the  keys  of  the  city.  Charles  X. 
replied  to  the  address  of  the  Prefect:  "I  deposit 
these  keys  with  you,  because  I  cannot  place  them  in 
more  faithful  hands.  Guard  them,  gentlemen.  It  is 
with  a  profound  feeling  of  pain  and  joy  that  I  enter 
within  these  walls,  in  the  midst  of  my  good  people, 
—  of  joy  because  I  well  know  that  I  shall  employ  and 
consecrate  all  my  days  to  the  very  last,  to  assure  and 
consolidate  their  happiness."  Accompanied  by  the 
princes  and  princesses  of  his  family  and  by  a  mag- 
nificent staff,  the  sovereign  descended  the  Champs- 

11 


12  TUE  DUCHESS  OF  BEBBT 

Elys^es  to  the  Avenue  of  Marigny,  followed  that 
avenue,  and  entered  the  Rue  du  Faubourg  Saint- 
Honor^,  before  the  Palace  of  the  Elys^e.  At  this 
moment,  the  weather,  which  had  been  cold  and  som- 
bre, brightened,  and  the  rain,  which  had  been  falling 
for  a  long  time,  ceased.  The  King  heard  two  child- 
voices  crying  joyously,  ''''Bon-papa."  It  was  the  lit- 
tle Duke  of  Bordeaux  and  his  sister  at  a  window  of 
an  entresol  of  the  Elysde  which  looked  out  upon 
the  street.  On  perceiving  his  two  grandchildren, 
Charles  X.  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  approach 
them.  He  left  the  ranks  of  the  cortege,  to  the  de- 
spair of  the  grand-master  of  ceremonies.  The  horse 
reared.  A  sergeant-de-ville  seized  him  by  the  bit. 
Listen  to  Madame  de  Gontaut:  "I  was  frightened, 
and  cried  out.  The  King  scolded  me  for  it  after- 
ward. I  confessed  my  weakness ;  to  fall  at  the  first 
step  in  Paris  would  have  seemed  an  ill  omen.  The 
King  subdued  his  fretful  horse,  said  a  few  tender 
words  to  the  children,  raised  his  hat  gracefully  to  the 
ladies  surrounding  us.  A  thousand  voices  shouted: 
Vive  le  Roi  I  The  grand-master  was  reassured,  the 
horse  was  quieted,  and  the  King  resumed  his  place. 
The  carriage  of  the  princes  and  princesses  passing 
at  that  moment,  the  little  princes  saw  them — it 
was  an  added  joy." 

The  cortege  followed  this  route :  the  Rue  du  Fau- 
bourg Saint-Honor^,  the  boulevards  to  the  Rue  Saint- 
Denis,  the  Rue  Saint-Denis,  the  Place  du  Ch§,telet, 
the  Pont  au  Change,  the  Rue  de  la  Barillerie,  the 


THE  ENTRY  INTO  PARIS  13 

March^-Neuf,  the  Rue  Neuve-Notre-Dame,  the  Par- 
vis.  At  every  moment  the  King  reined  in  his  superb 
Arab  horse  to  regard  more  at  ease  the  delighted 
crowd.  He  smiled  and  saluted  with  an  air  of  kind- 
ness and  a  grace  that  produced  the  best  impression. 
Charles  X.  was  an  excellent  horseman ;  he  presented 
the  figure  and  air  of  a  young  man.  The  contrast 
naturally  fixed  in  all  minds,  between  his  vigorous 
attitude  and  that  of  his  predecessor,  an  infirm  and 
feeble  old  man,  added  to  the  general  satisfaction. 
The  houses  were  decorated  with  white  flags  spangled 
with  fleurs-de-lis.  Triumphal  arches  were  erected 
along  the  route  of  the  sovereign.  The  streets  and 
boulevards  were  strewn  with  flowers.  At  the  sight 
of  the  monarch  the  happy  people  redoubled  their 
acclamations.  Benjamin  Constant  shouted:  "Vive 
le  roi!  "  —  "Ah,  I  have  captured  you  at  last,"  smil- 
ingly remarked  Charles  X. 

Reaching  the  Parvis  de  Notre-Dame,  the  sovereign, 
before  entering  the  Cathedral,  paused  before  the 
threshold  of  the  H8tel-Dieu.  Fifty  nuns  presented 
themselves  before  him,  "Sire,"  said  the  Prioress, 
"you  pause  before  the  house  so  justly  termed  the 
H8tel-Dieu,  which  has  always  been  honored  with 
the  protection  of  our  kings.  We  shall  never  for- 
get, Sire,  that  the  sick  have  seen  at  their  bedside 
the  Prince  who  is  to-day  their  King.  They  know 
that  at  this  moment  your  march  is  arrested  by  charity. 
We  shall  tell  them  that  the  King  is  concerned  for 
their  ills,  and  it  will  be  a  solace  to  them.     Sire, 


14  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BEBRY 

we  offer  you  our  homage,  our  vows,  and  the  assur- 
ance that  we  shall  always  fulfil  with  zeal  our  duties 
to  the  sick."  Charles  X.  replied:  "I  know  with 
what  zeal  you  and  these  gentlemen  serve  the  poor. 
Continue,  Mesdames,  and  you  can  count  on  my 
benevolence  and  on  my  constant  protection." 

The  King  was  received  at  the  Metropolitan  Church 
by  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  at  the  head  of  his  clergy. 
The  Domine  salvum,  fac  regent,  was  intoned  and 
repeated  by  the  deputations  of  all  the  authorities 
and  by  the  crowd  filling  the  nave,  the  side-aisles, 
and  the  tribunes  of  the  vast  basilica.  Then  a  numer- 
ous body  of  singers  sang  the  Te  Deum.  On  leaving 
the  church,  the  King  remounted  his  horse  and  re- 
turned to  the  Tuileries,  along  the  quais,  to  the 
sound  of  salvos  of  artillery  and  the  acclamations  of 
the  crowd.  The  Duchess  of  Berry,  who  had  followed 
the  King  through  all  the  ceremonies,  entered  the 
ChS,teau  with  him,  and  immediately  addressed  to  the 
Governess  of  the  Children  of  France  this  note :  "  From 
Saint  Cloud  to  Notre-Dame,  from  Notre-Dame  to  the 
Tuileries,  the  King  has  been  accompanied  by  accla- 
mations, signs  of  approval  and  of  love." 

Charles  X.,  on  Thursday,  the  30th  September,  had 
to  attend  a  review  on  the  Champ-de-Mars.  The 
morning  of  this  day,  the  readers  of  all  the  journals 
found  in  them  a  decree  abolishing  the  censorship  and 
restoring  liberty  of  the  press.  The  enthusiasm  was 
immense.  The  Journal  de  Paris  wrote :  "  To-day  all 
is  joy,  confidence,  hope.    The  enthusiasm  excited  by 


THE  ENTRY  INTO  PARIS  15 

the  new  reign  would  be  far  too  ill  at  ease  under  a 
censorship.  None  can  be  exercised  over  the  public 
gratitude.  It  must  be  allowed  full  expansion. 
Happy  is  the  Council  of  His  Majesty  to  greet 
the  new  King  with  an  act  so  worthy  of  him.  It 
is  the  banquet  of  this  joyous  accession ;  for  to  give 
liberty  to  the  press  is  to  give  free  course  to  the 
benedictions  merited  by  Charles  X." 

The  review  was  superb.  After  having  heard  Mass 
in  the  chapel  of  the  Chateau  of  the  Tuileries,  the 
King  mounted  his  horse  at  half-past  eleven,  and,  ac- 
companied by  the  Dauphin,  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
and  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  proceeded  to  the  Champ- 
de-Mars.  Two  caliches  followed;  the  one  was  oc- 
cupied by  the  Dauphiness,  the  Duchess  of  Berry,  and 
the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  in  the  uniform  of  a  colonel 
of  cuirassiers, —  a  four-year  old  colonel,  — the  other 
by  the  Duchess  of  Orleans  and  Mademoiselle  of  Or- 
leans, her  sister-in-law.  The  weather  was  mild  and 
clear.  The  twelve  legions  of  the  National  Guard  on 
foot,  the  mounted  National  Guard,  the  military 
household  of  the  King,  and  all  the  regiments  of  the 
royal  guard,  which  the  sovereign  was  about  to  re- 
view, made  a  magnificent  appearance.  An  immense 
multitude  covered  the  slopes  about  the  Champ-de- 
Mars.  Charles  X.  harvested  the  effect  of  the  liberal 
measure  that  he  had  first  adopted.  A  thunder  of 
plaudits  and  cheers  greeted  his  arrival  on  the  ground. 
At  one  moment,  when  he  found  himself,  so  to  speak, 
tangled  in  the  midst  of  the  crowd,  several  lancers  of 


16  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

his  guard  sought  to  break  the  circle  formed  about 
him  by  pushing  back  the  curious  with  the  handles 
of  their  lances.  "  My  friends,  no  halberds ! "  the 
King  called  to  them.  This  happy  phrase,  repeated 
from  group  to  group,  carried  the  general  satisfaction 
to  a  climax.  A  witness  of  this  military  ceremony, 
the  Count  of  Puymaigre,  at  that  time  Prefect  of  the 
Oise,  says  in  his  curious  Souvenirs :  — 

"Charles  X.  appeared  to  have  dissipated  all  the 
dangers  that  for  ten  years  had  menaced  his  august 
predecessor. 

"  On  all  sides  there  rose  only  acclamations  of  de- 
light in  favor  of  the  new  King,  who  showed  himself 
so  popular,  and  whose  gracious  countenance  could 
express  only  benevolent  intentions.  I  was  present, 
mingling  with  the  crowd,  at  the  first  review  by 
Charles  X.  on  the  Champ-de-Mars,  and  the  remarks 
were  so  frankly  royalist,  that  any  one  would  have 
been  roughly  treated  by  the  crowd  had  he  shown 
other  sentiments." 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  was  full  of  joy.  She  quiv- 
ered with  pleasure.  Very  popular  in  the  army  and 
among  the  people,  as  at  court  and  in  the  city,  she 
was  proud  to  show  her  fine  child,  who  already  wore 
the  uniform,  to  the  officers  and  soldiers.  She  ap- 
peared to  all  eyes  the  symbol  of  maternal  love,  and 
the  mothers  gazed  upon  her  boy  as  if  he  had  been 
their  own.  As  soon  as  the  little  Prince  was  seen, 
there  was  on  every  face  an  expression  of  kindliness 
and  sympathy.    He  was  the  Child  of  Paris,  the  Child 


THE  ENTRY  INTO  PARIS  17 

of  France.  Who  could  have  foretold  then  that  this 
child,  so  loved,  admired,  applauded,  would,  inno- 
cent victim,  less  than  six  years  later,  be  condemned 
to  perpetual  exile,  and  by  whom  ? 

Charles  X.  had  won  a  triumph.  Napoleon,  at  the 
time  of  his  greatest  glories,  at  the  apogee  of  his  pro- 
digious fortunes,  had  never  had  a  warmer  greeting 
from  the  Parisian  people.  In  the  course  of  the  re- 
view the  King  spoke  to  all  the  colonels.  On  his 
return  to  the  Tuileries  he  went  at  a  slow  pace, 
paused  often  to  receive  petitions,  handed  them  to 
one  of  his  suite,  and  responded  in  the  most  gracious 
manner  to  the  homage  of  which  he  was  the  object. 
An  historian  not  to  be  accused  of  partiality  for  the 
Restoration  has  written :  "  On  entering  the  Tuile- 
ries, Charles  X.  might  well  believe  that  the  favor 
that  greeted  his  reign  effaced  the  popularity  of  all 
the  sovereigns  who  had  gone  before.  Happy  in 
being  King  at  last,  moved  by  the  acclamations  that 
he  met  at  every  step,  the  new  monarch  let  his  intox- 
icating joy  expand  in  all  his  words.  His  affability 
was  remarked  in  his  walks  through  Paris,  and  the 
grace  with  which  he  received  all  petitioners  who 
could  approach  him."  Everywhere  that  he  appeared, 
at  the  H8tel-Dieu,  at  Sainte-Genvieve,  at  the  Made- 
leine, the  crowd  pressed  around  him  and  manifested 
the  sincerest  enthusiasm.  M.  Villemain,  in  the 
opening  discourse  of  his  lectures  on  eloquence  at 
the  Faculty  of  Letters,  was  wildly  applauded  when 
he  pronounced  the  following  eulogium  on  the  new 


18  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

sovereign:  "A  monarch  kindly  and  revered,  he  has 
the  loyalty  of  the  antique  ways  and  modern  enlight- 
enment. Religion  is  the  seal  of  his  word.  He  in- 
herits from  Henry  IV.  those  graces  of  the  heart  that 
are  irresistible.  He  has  received  from  Louis  XIV. 
an  intelligent  love  of  the  arts,  a  nobility  of  language, 
and  that  dignity  that  imposes  respect  while  it 
seduces."  All  the  journals  chanted  his  praises. 
Seeing  that  the  Constitutionnel  itself,  freed  from  cen- 
sorship, rendered  distinguished  homage  to  legiti- 
macy, he  came  to  believe  that  principle  invincible. 
He  was  called  Charles  the  Loyal.  At  the  Th^atre- 
Frangais,  the  line  of  Tartufe  — 

"  Nous  vivons  sous  un  prince  ennemi  de  la  fraude  "  — 

was  greeted  with  a  salvo  of  applause.  The  former 
adversaries  of  the  King  reproached  themselves  with 
having  misunderstood  him.  They  sincerely  re- 
proached themselves  for  their  past  criticisms,  and 
adored  that  which  they  had  burned.  M.  de  Vaula- 
belle  himself  wrote :  — 

"Few  sovereigns  have  taken  possession  of  the 
throne  in  circumstances  more  favorable  than  those 
surrounding  the  accession  of  Charles  X." 

It  seemed  as  if  the  great  problem  of  the  concilia- 
tion of  order  and  liberty  had  been  definitely  solved. 
The  white  flag,  rejuvenated  by  the  Spanish  war,  had 
taken  on  all  its  former  splendor.  The  best  officers, 
the  best  soldiers  of  the  imperial  guard,  served  the 
King   in   the   royal  guard  with  a  devotion  proof 


THE  ENTRY  INTO  PARIS  19 

against  everytliing.  Secret  societies  had  ceased  their 
subterranean  manoeuvres.  No  more  disturbances,  no 
more  plots.  In  the  Chambers,  the  Opposition,  re- 
duced to  an  insignificant  minority,  was  discouraged 
or  converted.  The  ambitious  spirits  of  whom  it  was 
composed  turned  their  thoughts  toward  the  rising 
sun.  Peace  had  happily  fecundated  the  prodigious 
resources  of  the  country.  Finances,  commerce,  ag- 
riculture, industry,  the  fine  arts,  everything  was 
prospering.  The  public  revenues  steadily  increased. 
The  ease  with  which  riches  came  inclined  all  minds 
toward  optimism.  The  salons  had  resumed  the  most 
exquisite  traditions  of  courtesy  and  elegance.  It 
was  the  boast  that  every  good  side  of  the  ancien 
rSgime  had  been  preserved  and  every  bad  one  rejected. 
France  was  not  only  respected,  she  was  d  la  mode. 
All  Europe  regarded  her  with  sympathetic  admira- 
tion. No  one  in  1824  could  have  predicted  1830. 
The  writers  least  favorable  to  the  Restoration  had 
borne  witness  to  the  general  calm,  the  prevalence  of 
good  will,  the  perfect  accord  between  the  country 
and  the  crown.  The  early  days  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  X.  were,  so  to  speak,  the  honeymoon  of  the 
union  of  the  King  and  France. 


Ill 

THE  TOMBS   OF   SAINT-DENIS 

THE  funeral  solemnities  of  Louis  XVIII.  seemed 
to  the  people  a  mortuary  triumph  of  Royalty 
over  the  Revolution  and  the  Empire.  The  profana- 
tions of  1793  were  expiated.  Napoleon  was  left  with 
the  willow  of  Saint  Helena ;  the  descendant  of  Saint 
Louis  and  of  Louis  XIV.  had  the  basilica  of  his  an- 
cestors as  a  place  of  sepulture,  and  the  links  of  time's 
chain  were  again  joined.  The  obsequies  of  Louis 
XVIII.  suggested  a  multitude  of  reflections.  It  was 
the  first  time  since  the  death  of  Louis  XV.  in  1774, 
that  such  a  ceremony  had  taken  place.  As  was  said 
by  the  Moniteur :  — 

"  This  solemnity,  absolutely  novel  for  the  greater 
number  of  the  present  generation,  offered  an  aspect  at 
once  mournful  and  imposing.  A  monarch  so  justly 
regretted,  a  king  so  truly  Christian,  coming  to  take 
his  place  among  the  glorious  remains  of  the  martyrs 
of  his  race  and  the  bones  of  his  ancestors,  —  profaned, 
scattered  by  the  revolutionary  tempest,  but  which  he 
had  been  able  again  to  gather,  —  was  a  grave  subject 
of  reflection,  a  spectacle  touching  in  its  purpose  and 
majestic  in  the  pomp  with  which  it  was  surrounded." 
20 


THE  TOMBS   OF  SAINT-DENIS  21 

Through  what  vicissitudes  had  passed  these  royal 
tombs,  to  which  the  coffin  of  Louis  XVIII.  was 
borne!  Read  in  the  work  of  M.  Georges  d'Heylli, 
Les  Tomhes  royales  de  Saint-Denis,  the  story  of  these 
profanations  and  restorations. 

The  Moniteur  of  the  6th  of  February,  1793,  pub- 
lished in  its  literary  miscellany,  a  so-called  patriotic 
ode,  by  the  poet  Lebrun,  containing  the  following 
strophe :  — 

"Purgeons  le  sol  des  patriotes, 
Par  des  rois  encore  infectes. 
La  terre  de  la  liberte 
Rejette  les  os  des  despotes. 
De  ces  monstres  divinises 
Que  tons  les  cercueils  soient  brises  I 
Que  leur  naemoire  soit  fletrie ! 
Et  qu'avec  leurs  manes  errants 
Sortent  du  sein  de  la  patrie 
Les  cadavres  de  ses  tyrants  !  "  ^ 

These  verses  were  the  prelude  to  the  discussion, 
some  months  later,  in  the  National  Convention,  of 
the  proposition  to  destroy  the  monuments  of  the 
Kings  at  Saint-Denis,  to  burn  their  remains,  and  to 
send  to  the  bullet  foundry  the  bronze  and  lead  off 
their  tombs  and  coffins.  In  the  session  of  July  31, 
1793,   Barrere,  the   "Anacreon   of  the  guillotine," 

1  Let  us  purge  the  patriot  soil  —  By  kings  still  infected.  —  The 
land  of  liberty  —  Rejects  the  bones  of  despots.  —  Of  these  monsters 
deified  —  Let  all  the  coffins  be  destroyed! — Let  their  memory 
perish  I  —  And  with  their  wandering  manes  —  Let  issue  from  the 
bosom  of  the  fatherland  —  The  bodies  of  its  tyrants  ! 


22  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

read  to  the  convention  in  tlie  name  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  Public  Safety,  a  report,  which  said :  — 

"  To  celebrate  the  day  of  August  10,  which  over- 
threw the  tlu'one,  the  pompous  mausoleums  must  be 
destroyed  upon  its  anniversary.  Under  the  Mon- 
archy, the  very  tombs  were  taught  to  flatter  kings. 
Royal  pride  and  luxury  could  not  be  moderated  even 
on  this  theatre  of  death,  and  the  bearers  of  the  sceptre 
who  had  brought  such  ills  on  France  and  on  human- 
ity seemed  even  in  the  grave  to  vaunt  a  vanished 
splendor.  The  strong  hand  of  the  Republic  should 
pitilessly  efface  these  haughty  epitaphs,  and  demolish 
these  mausoleums  which  might  recall  the  frightful 
memory  of  kings." 

The  project  was  voted  by  acclamation.  The  tombs 
were  demolished  between  the  6th  and  8th  of  August, 
1793,  and  the  announcement  was  made  for  the  anni- 
versary of  the  10th  of  August,  1792,  of  "that  grand, 
just,  and  retributive  destruction,  required  in  order 
that  the  coffins  should  be  opened,  and  the  remains  of 
the  tyrants  be  thrown  into  a  ditch  filled  with  quick- 
lime, where  they  may  be  forever  destroyed.  This 
operation  will  shortly  take  place." 

This  was  done  in  the  following  October.  For  some 
days  there  was  carried  on  a  profanation  even  more 
sacrilegious  than  the  demolition  of  the  tombs.  The 
coffins  containing  the  remains  of  kings  and  queens, 
princes  and  princesses,  were  violated.  On  Wednes- 
day, the  16th  of  October,  1793,  at  the  very  hour  that 
Marie  Antoinette  mounted  the  scaffold, — she  who 


THE  TOMBS  OF  SAINT-DENIS  23 

had  so  wept  for  lier  son,  the  first  Dauphin,  who  died 
the  4th  of  June,  1789,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revo- 
lution, —  the  disinterrers  of  kings  violated  the  grave 
of  this  child  and  threw  his  bones  on  the  refuse  heap. 
Iconoclasts,  jealous  of  death,  disputed  its  prey,  and 
they  profaned  among  others  the  sepulchres  of  Ma- 
dame Henrietta  of  England,  of  the  Princess  Palatine, 
of  the  Regent,  and  of  Louis  XV. 

In  the  midst  of  these  devastations,  some  men,  less 
insensate  than  the  others,  sought  at  least  to  rescue 
from  the  hands  of  the  destroyers  what  might  be  pre- 
served in  the  interest  of  art.  Of  this  number  was  an 
artist,  Alexandre  Lenoir,  who  had  supervised  the 
demolition  of  the  tombs  of  Saint-Denis.  He  could 
not  keep  from  the  foundry,  by  the  terms  of  the  decree, 
the  tombs  of  lead,  copper,  and  bronze ;  but  he  saved 
the  others  from  complete  destruction  —  those  that 
may  be  seen  to-day  in  the  church  of  Saint-Denis. 
He  had  them  placed  first  in  the  cemetery  of  the 
Valois,  near  the  ditches  filled  with  quicklime, 
where  had  been  cast  the  remains  of  the  great  ones  of 
the  earth,  robbed  of  their  sepulchres.  Later,  a  decree 
of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  Benezech,  dated  19 
Germinal,  An  IV.,  authorizing  the  citizen  Lenoir  to 
have  the  tombs  thus  saved  from  destruction  taken  to 
the  Museum  of  French  Monuments,  of  which  he  was 
the  conservator,  and  which  had  been  installed  at 
Paris,  Rue  des  Petits  Augustins.  From  thence  they 
were  destined  to  be  returned  to  the  Church  of  Saint- 
Denis,  under  the  reign  of  Louis  XVIII. 


24  THE  DUCEESS  OF  BERRY 

At  tlie  height  of  his  power,  Napoleon  dreamed  of 
providing  for  himself  the  same  sepulture  as  that  of 
the  kings,  his  predecessors.  He  had  decided  that  he 
would  be  interred  in  the  Church  of  Saint-Denis,  and 
had  arranged  for  himself  a  cortege  of  emperors  about 
the  site  that  he  had  chosen  for  the  vault  of  his 
d}Tiasty.  He  directed  the  construction  of  a  grand 
monument  dedicated  to  Charlemagne,  which  was  to 
rise  in  the  "  imperialized  "  church.  The  great  Carlo- 
vingian  emperor  was  to  have  been  represented,  erect, 
upon  a  column  of  marble,  at  the  back  of  which  statues 
in  stone  of  the  emperors  who  succeeded  him  were  to 
have  been  placed.  But  at  the  time  of  Napoleon's 
fall,  the  monument  had  not  been  finished.  There 
had  been  completed  only  the  statues,  which  have 
taken  their  rank  in  the  crypt.  They  represent  Char- 
lemagne, Louis  le  D^bonnaire,  Charles  le  Chauve, 
Louis  le  Begue,  Charles  le  Gros,  and  even  Louis 
d'Outremer,  who,  nevertheless,  was  only  a  king. 

Like  the  Pharaohs  of  whom  Bossuet  speaks,  Napo- 
leon was  not  to  enjoy  his  sepulture.  To  be  interred 
with  pomp  at  Saint-Denis,  while  Napoleon,  at  Saint 
Helena,  rested  under  a  simple  stone  on  which  not 
even  his  name  was  inscribed,  was  the  last  triumph 
for  Louis  XVIII. ,  — a  triumph  in  death.  The  re-en- 
trance of  Louis  XVIII.  had  been  not  only  the  res- 
toration of  the  throne,  but  that  of  the  tombs.  The 
21st  of  January,  1815,  twenty-two  years,  to  the  very 
day,  after  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.,  the  remains  of 
the  unhappy  King  and  those  of  his  Queen,   Marie 


THE  TOMBS  OF  SAINT-DENIS  25 

Antoinette,  were  transferred  to  the  Church  of  Saint- 
Denis,  where  their  solemn  obsequies  were  celebrated. 
Chateaubriand  cried:  — 

"What  hand  has  reconstructed  the  roof  of  these 
vaults  and  prepared  these  empty  tombs  ?  The  hand 
of  him  who  was  seated  on  the  throne  of  the  Bour- 
bons. O  Providence!  He  believed  that  he  was 
preparing  the  sepulchres  of  his  race,  and  he  was  but 
building  the  tomb  of  Louis  XVI.  Injustice  reigns 
but  for  a  moment ;  it  is  virtue  only  that  can  count  its 
ancestors  and  leave  a  posterity.  See,  at  the  same 
moment,  the  master  of  the  earth  falls,  Louis  XVIII. 
regains  the  sceptre,  Louis  XVI.  finds  again  the 
sepulture  of  his  fathers." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Second  Restoration,  the 
King  determined,  by  a  decree  of  the  4th  of  April, 
1816,  that  search  should  be  made  in  the  cemetery  of 
the  Valois,  about  the  Church  of  Saint-Denis,  in  order 
to  recover  the  remains  of  his  ancestors  that  might 
have  escaped  the  action  of  the  bed  of  quicklime,  in 
which  they  had  been  buried  under  the  Terror.  The 
same  decree  declared  that  the  remains  recovered 
should  be  solemnly  replaced  in  the  Church  of  Saint- 
Denis. 

Excavations  were  made  in  January,  1817,  in  the 
cemetery  of  the  Valois,  and  the  bones  thus  discovered 
were  transferred  to  the  necropolis  of  the  kings. 

"It  was  night,"  says  Alexandre  Lenoir,  in  his 
Sistoire  des  A)'ts  en  France  par  les  Monuments.  "  The 
moon  shone   on   the  towers;   the  torches  borne   by 


26  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

the  attendants  were  reflected  from  the  walls  of  the 
edifice.  What  a  spectacle!  The  remains  of  kings 
and  queens,  princes  and  princesses,  of  the  most 
ancient  of  monarchies,  sought  with  pious  care,  with 
sacred  respect,  in  the  ditches  dug  by  impious  arms 
in  the  evil  days.  The  bones  of  the  Valois  and  the 
Bourbons  found  jjele-^nele  outside  the  walls  of  the 
church,  and  brought  again,  after  a  long  exile,  to  their 
ancient  burial  place." 

In  a  little  vault  on  the  left  were  deposited  the 
coffins  containing  the  bones  of  earlier  date  than  the 
Bourbons,  and  a  marble  tablet  was  placed  upon  it, 
with  the  inscription :  "  Here  rest  the  mortal  remains 
of  eighteen  kings,  from  Dagobert  to  Henry  IH. ;  ten 
queens,  from  Nantilde,  wife  of  Dagobert,  to  Mar- 
guerite de  Valois,  first  wife  of  Henry  IV. ;  twenty- 
four  dauphins,  princes,  and  princesses,  children  and 
grandchildren  of  France;  eleven  divers  personages 
(Hugues-le-grand,  four  abbes  of  Saint-Denis,  three 
chamberlains,  two  constables,  and  S^dille  de  Sainte- 
Croix,  wife  of  the  Counsellor  Jean  Pastourelle). 
Torn  from  their  violated  sepulchres  the  17,  18,  19, 
20,  21,  22,  23,  24  October,  1793,  and  18  January, 
1794;  restored  to  their  tombs  the  19  January,  1817." 

On  the  right  were  placed  the  coffins  enclosing  the 
remains  of  the  princes  and  princesses  of  the  house 
of  Bourbon,  the  list  of  which  is  given  by  a  second 
marble  plaque:  "Here  rest  the  mortal  remains  of 
seven  kings,  from  Charles  V.  to  Louis  XV. ;  seven 
queens,  from  Jeanne  de  Bourbon,  wife  of  Charles  V., 


THE   TOMBS   OF  SAINT-DENIS  27 

to  Marie  Leczinska,  wife  of  Louis  XV. ;  dauphins 
and  dauphinesses,  princes  and  princesses,  children 
and  grandchiklren  of  France,  to  the  number  of  forty- 
seven,  from  the  second  son  of  Henry  IV.  to  the  Dau- 
phin, eldest  son  of  Louis  XVI.  Torn  from  their 
violated  sepulchres  the  12,  14,  15,  and  16  October, 
1793;  restored  to  their  tombs  the  19  January,  1817." 

Besides  these  vaults,  there  is  one  that  bears  the 
title  of  the  "Royal  Vault  of  the  Bourbons,"  though 
but  a  small  number  of  princes  and  princesses  of  this 
family  are  there  deposited.  There  is  where  Louis 
XVIII.  was  to  rest.  In  1815,  there  had  been  placed 
in  this  vault  the  coffins  of  Louis  XVI.  and  of  Marie 
Antoinette,  recovered  on  the  site  of  the  former  ceme- 
tery of  the  Madeleine.  On  the  coffin  of  the  King 
was  carved:  "Here  is  the  body  of  the  very  high, 
very  puissant,  and  very  excellent  Prince,  Louis,  16th 
of  the  name,  by  the  grace  of  God  King  of  France  and 
Navarre."  A  like  inscription  on  the  coffin  of  the 
Queen  recited  her  titles. 

In  1817,  there  had  been  put  by  the  side  of  these 
two  coffins  those  of  Madame  Adelaide  and  of  Madame 
Victorine,  daughter  of  Louis  XV.,  who  died  at 
Trieste,  one  in  1799,  the  other  in  1800,  and  whose 
remains  had  just  been  brought  from  that  city  to  Saint- 
Denis.  There  had  also  been  placed  in  the  same  vault 
a  coffin  containing  the  body  of  Louis  VII.  —  a  king 
coming  now  for  the  first  time,  as  Alexandi'e  Lenoir 
remarks,  to  take  a  place  in  the  vault  of  these  van- 
ished princes,  whose  ranks  are  no  longer  crowded, 


28  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

and  which  crime  has  been  more  prompt  to  scatter 
than  has  Death  been  to  fill  them ;  also  the  coffin  of 
Louise  de  Vaiidemont,  wife  of  Henry  III.,  the  queen 
who  was  buried  in  the  Church  of  the  Capucins,  Place 
Vend6me,  and  Avhose  remains  escaped  profanation  in 
1793.  In  this  same  vault  were  also  two  little  coffins, 
those  of  a  daughter  and  a  son  of  the  Duke  and  Duch- 
ess of  Berry,  who  died,  one  in  1817,  the  other  in  1818, 
immediately  after  birth,  and  the  coffin  of  their  father, 
assassinated  the  13th  of  February,  1820,  on  leaving 
the  Opera.  Such  were  the  companions  in  burial  of 
Louis  XVIII. 


IV 

THE  FUNERAL   OF   LOIHS   XVm 

LOUIS  XVIII.  died  the  16th  of  September,  1824, 
at  the  Chateau  of  the  Tuileries.  His  body- 
remained  there  until  the  23d  of  September,  when, 
to  the  sound  of  a  salvo  of  one  hundred  and  one  guns, 
it  was  borne  to  tlie  Church  of  Saint-Denis.  The 
coffin  remained  exposed  in  this  basilica  within  a 
chapelle  ardente,  to  the  24th  of  October,  the  eve  of 
the  day  fixed  for  the  obsequies,  and  during  all  this 
time  the  church  was  filled  with  a  crowd  of  the  faith- 
ful, belonging  to  all  classes  of  society,  who  gathered 
from  Paris  and  all  the  surrounding  communes,  to 
render  a  last  homage  to  the  old  King.  Sunday,  24th 
of  October,  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  body 
was  transferred  from  the  chapelle  ardente  to  the  cata- 
falque prepared  to  receive  it.  Then  the  vespers  and 
the  vigils  of  the  dead  were  sung,  and  the  Grand 
Almoner,  clad  in  his  pontifical  robes,  officiated. 
The  next  day,  Monday,  the  25th  of  October,  the  ser- 
vices of  burial  took  place. 

The  Dauphin  and  Dauphiness  left  the  Tuileries  at 
10.30  A.M.,  to  be  present  at  the  funeral  ceremony. 
In  conformity  with  etiquette,   Charles   X.  was  not 

29 


30  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERBY 

present.  He  remained  at  the  Tuileries  with  the 
Duchess  of  Berry,  with  whom  he  heard  a  requiem 
Mass  in  the  chapel  of  the  Chateau  at  eleven  o'clock. 
The  Duchess  was  thus  spared  a  painful  spectacle. 
With  what  emotion  would  she  not  have  seen  opened 
the  crypt  in  which  she  helieved  she  would  herself  be 
laid,  and  which  was  the  burial  place  of  her  assassi- 
nated husband  and  of  her  two  childi-en,  dead  so  soon 
after  their  birth. 

The  ceremony  commences  in  the  antique  necrop- 
olis. The  interior  of  the  church  is  hung  all  with 
black  to  the  spring  of  the  arches,  where  fleurs-de-lis 
in  gold  are  relieved  against  the  funeral  hangings. 
The  light  of  day,  wholly  shut  out,  is  replaced  by 
an  immense  quantity  of  lamps,  tapers,  and  candles, 
suspended  from  a  multitude  of  candelabra  and  chan- 
deliers. At  the  back  of  the  choir  shines  a  great 
luminous  cross.  The  Dauphiness,  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans,  the  princes  and  princesses,  her  children, 
her  sister-in-law,  are  led  to  the  gallery  of  the  Dau- 
phiness. The  church  is  filled  with  the  crowd  of 
constituted  authorities.  At  the  entrance  to  the  nave 
is  seen  a  deputation  of  men  and  women  from  the 
markets,  and  others  who,  according  to  the  Moniteur^ 
have  won  the  favor  of  admission  to  this  sad  cere- 
mony by  the  grief  they  manifested  at  the  time  of  the 
King's  death.  The  Dauphin  advances,  his  man- 
tle borne  from  the  threshold  of  the  church  to  the 
choir  by  the  Duke  of  Blacas,  the  Duke  of  Damas, 
and  the  Count  Melchior  de  Polignac.     The  Duke  of 


THE  FUNERAL   OF  LOUIS  XVIII  31 

Orleans  comes  next.     Three  of  his  officers  bear  his 
mantle. 

A  salvo  of  artillery,  responded  to  by  a  discharge 
of  musketry,  announces  the  commencement  of  the 
ceremony.  The  Grand  Almoner  of  France  says 
Mass.  After  the  Gospel  Mgr.  de  Frayssinous, 
Bishop  of  Hermopolis,  ascends  the  pulpit  and  pro- 
nounces the  funeral  oration  of  the  Kingf.  At  the 
close  of  the  discourse  another  salvo  of  artillery  and 
another  discharge  of  musketry  are  heard.  The  musi- 
cians of  the  Chapel  of  the  King,  under  the  direction 
of  M.  Plantade,  render  the  Mass  of  Cherubini.  At 
the  Sanctus,  twelve  pages  of  the  King,  guided  by 
their  governor,  come  from  the  sacristy,  whence  they 
have  taken  their  torches,  salute  the  altar,  then  the 
catafalque,  place  themselves  kneeling  on  the  first 
steps  of  the  sanctuar}-,  and  remain  there  until  after 
the  Communion.  The  De  Profundis  and  the  Libera 
are  sung.  After  the  absolutions,  twelve  body-guards 
advance  to  the  catafalque,  which  recalls  by  its  form 
the  mausoleums  raised  to  Francis  I.  and  to  Henry 
II.  by  the  architects  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It 
occupies  the  centre  of  the  nave.  The  cords  of  the 
pall  are  borne  by  the  Chancellor  Dambray  in  the 
name  of  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  by  M.  Ravez  in  the 
name  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  by  the  Count  de 
Seze  in  tlio  name  of  the  magistracy,  by  Marshal  Mon- 
cey,  Duke  of  Conegliano,  in  the  name  of  the  arm}'. 
The  twelve  bod3-guards  raise  the  coffin  from  the  cat- 
afalque, and  bear  it  into  the  royal  tomb.     Then  the 


32  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEIiliY 

Kinof-at-Arms  2foes  alone  into  the  vault,  lavs  aside 
his  rod,  his  cap,  and  his  coat-of-anns,  which  he  also 
casts  in,  retires  a  step,  and  cries :  "  Heralds-at-Arms, 
perform  your  duties." 

The  Heralds-at-Arms,  marching  in  succession,  cast 
their  rods,  caps,  coats-of-arms,  into  the  tomb,  then 
withdraw,  except  two,  of  wliom  one  descends  into 
the  vault  to  place  the  regalia  on  the  coffin,  and  the 
other  is  stationed  on  the  first  steps  to  receive  the 
regalia  and  pass  them  to  the  one  who  stands  on 
the  steps. 

The  King-at-Arms  begins  announcing  the  regalia. 
He  says :  "  Marshal,  Duke  of  Ragusa,  major-general 
of  the  Royal  Guard,  bring  the  flag  of  the  Royal 
Guard."  The  marshal  rises  from  his  place,  takes 
the  flag  from  the  hands  of  the  officer  bearing  it,  ad- 
vances, salutes  first  the  Dauphin,  then  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  apj)roaches  the  vault,  makes  a  profound  bow, 
and  places  the  flag  in  the  hands  of  the  Herald-at- 
Arms,  standing  on  the  steps.  He  passes  it  to  the 
second,  who  places  it  on  the  coffin.  The  marshal 
salutes  the  altar  and  the  princes  and  resumes  his 
place. 

The  King-at-Arms  continues  the  calls.  "Mon- 
sieur the  Duke  of  JNIortemart,  captain-colonel  of  the 
regular  foot-guards  of  the  King,  bring  the  ensign  of 
the  company  which  you  have  in  keeping."  He  sum- 
mons in  the  same  manner  the  Duke  of  Luxembourg, 
the  Duke  of  Mouch}^  the  Duke  of  Gramont,  the 
Duke  d'Havr^,  who  bring  each  the  standard  of  the 


THE  FUNERAL   OF  LOUIS  XVIII  33 

company  of  the  body-guards  of  which  they  are  the  four 
captains.  The  call  of  the  other  regalia  goes  on  in 
the  following  order :  — 

"  Monsieur  the  Count  of  Peyrelongue,  Equerry  in 
Ordinary  of  His  Majesty,  bring  the  spurs  of  the 
King. 

"Monsieur  the  Marquis  of  Fresne,  Equerry  in 
Ordinarj'-  of  His  Majesty,  bring  the  gauntlets  of  the 
King. 

"  Monsieur  the  Chevalier  de  Riviere,  Master  of  the 
Horse  of  His  ^Majesty,  bring  the  coat-of-arms  of  the 
King. 

"  Monsieur  the  Marquis  of  Vernon,  charged  with 
the  functions  of  First  Equerry,  bring  the  helmet  of 
the  King. 

"Monsieur  the  Duke  of  Polignac,  charged  with 
the  functions  of  Grand  Equerry  of  France,  bring  the 
royal  sword.  (The  royal  sword  is  presented  before 
the  vault  only  by  the  point,  and  is  not  carried 
down.) 

"Monsieur  the  Prince  de  Talleyrand,  Grand  Cham- 
berlain of  France,  bring  the  banner." 

There  is  seen  approaching,  the  banner  in  his  hand, 
an  old  man,  slight,  lame,  clad  in  satin  and  covered 
with  embroidery,  in  gold  and  jewelled  decorations. 
It  is  the  unfrocked  priest  who  said  the  ]Mass  of  the 
Champ-de-Mars,  for  the  Fete  de  la  Federation  ;  it  is 
the  diplomat  who  directed  the  Ministry  of  Foreign 
Affairs  at  the  time  of  the  murder  of  the  Duke  d'En- 
ghien;  it  is  the  courtier,  who,  before  he  was  Grand 


34  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEERY 

Chamberlain  of  Louis  XVIII.  and  Charles  X.,  was 
that  of  Napoleon.  The  banner  is  presented  before 
the  vault  only  by  one  end.  It  is  inclined  over  the 
opening  of  the  crypt,  but  is  not  cast  in,  salutes,  for 
the  last  time,  the  dead  King,  then  rises  as  if  to  pro- 
claim that  the  noble  banner  of  France  dies  not,  and 
that  the  royalty  sheltered  beneath  its  folds  descends 
not  into  the  tomb. 

The  King-at-Arms  again  cries:  — 

"Monsieur  the  Duke  d'Uzos,  charged  with  the 
functions  of  Grand  Master  of  France,  come  and  per- 
form your  duty."  Then  the  maitres  de  I'hQtel,  the 
chambellans  de  I'hStel,  and  the  first  maitre  de  I'liQtel 
approach  the  vault,  break  their  batons,  cast  them  in, 
and  return  to  their  places. 

The  King-at-Arms  summons  the  persons  bearing 
the  insignia  of  royalty. 

"Monsieur  the  Duke  of  Bressac,  bring  la  main  de 
justice. 

"Monsieur  the  Duke  of  Chevreuse,  bring  the 
sceptre. 

"Monsieur  the  Duke  of  la  Tr^moille,  bring  the 
crown." 

These  three  insignia  are  taken  down  into  the  vault, 
as  were  the  flag  and  the  four  standards. 

Then  the  Duke  d'Uzes,  putting  the  end  of  the 
baton  of  Grand  JNIaster  of  France  within  the  vault, 
cries  out:  "The  King  is  dead!  " 

The  King-at-Arms  withdraws  three  paces,  and 
repeats  in  a  low  voice:    "The  King  is   dead!    the 


THE  FUNERAL   OF  LOUIS  XVIII  35 

King  is  dead!  the  King  is  dead!  "  Then  turning  to 
the  assembly  he  says;  "Pray  for  the  repose  of  his 
soul!" 

At  this  moment  the  clergy  and  all  the  assistants 
throw  themselves  upon  their  knees,  pray,  and  rise 
again.  The  Duke  d'Uzes  withdraws  his  baton  from 
the  vault,  and  brandishing  it,  calls  out :  "  Long  live 
the  King!" 

The  King-at-Arms  repeats :  "  Long  live  the  King ! 
long;  live  the  King-!  lonsf  live  the  King!  Charles, 
tenth  of  the  name,  by  the  grace  of  God,  King  of 
France  and  Navarre,  very  Christian,  very  august, 
very  puissant,  our  very  honored  lord  and  good 
master,  to  whom  God  grant  long  and  happy  life! 
Cry  ye  all:  Long  live  the  King!  "  Then  the  trum- 
pets, di'ums,  fifes,  and  insti'uments  of  the  military 
bands  break  into  a  loud  fanfare,  and  their  sound  is 
mingled  with  the  prolonged  acclamations  of  the  as- 
sembly, whose  cries  "Long  live  the  King!  long  live 
Charles  X. !  "  contrast  with  the  silence  of  the  tombs. 

"To  this  outburst  of  the  public  hopes,"  says  the 
Moniteu)\  "succeeded  the  return  of  pious  and  mourn- 
ful duties ;  the  tomb  is 'closed  over  the  mortal  remains 
of  the  monarch  whose  subjects,  restored  to  happi- 
ness, greeted  him  on  his  return  from  the  land  of  exile 
with  the  name  of  Louis  le  Ddsire,  and  who  twice 
reconciled  his  people  with  Europe.  This  imposing 
ceremony  being  ended,  the  princes  were  again  es- 
corted into  the  Abbey  to  their  apartments,  by  the 
Grand  Master,  the  Master  of   Ceremonies   and   his 


36  TUE  DUCHESS  OF  BEERY 

aides,  preceded  by  the  Master-at-Arms,  and  the  Iler- 
alds-at-Arms,  who  had  resumed  their  caps,  coats-of- 
arms,  and  rods.  Then  the  crowd  slowly  dispersed. 
We  shall  not  try  to  express  the  sentiments  to  which 
this  imposing  and  mournful  ceremony  must  give  rise. 
With  the  regrets  and  sorrow  caused  by  the  death  of 
a  prince  so  justly  wept,  mingle  the  hopes  inspired  by 
a  King  already  the  master  of  all  hearts.  This  funeral 
ceremony  when,  immediately  after  the  burial  of  a 
monarch  whom  God  had  called  to  Himself,  were 
heard  cries  of  '  Long  live  Charles  X. , '  —  the  new 
King  greeted  at  the  tomb  of  his  august  predecessor, 
—  this  inauguration,  amid  the  pomps  of  deatli,  must 
have  left  impressions  not  to  be  rendered,  and  beyond 
tlie  power  of  imagination  to  represent." 

Reader,  if  this  recital  has  interested  3'ou,  go  visit 
the  Church  of  Saint-Denis.  There  is  not,  perhaps, 
in  all  the  world,  a  spectacle  more  impressive  than 
the  sight  of  the  ancient  necropolis  of  kings.  Enter 
the  basilica,  admirably  restored  under  the  Second 
Empire.  By  the  mystic  light  of  the  windows,  faith- 
ful reproductions  of  those  of  former  centuries,  —  the 
funerals  of  so  many  kings,  the  profanations  of  1793, 
the  restoration  of  the  tombs,  —  all  tliis  invades  your 
thought  and  inspires  you  with  a  dim  religious  im- 
pression of  devotion.  These  stones  have  their  lan- 
guage. Lapides  clamalunt.  Tliey  speak  amid  the 
sepulchral  silence.  Listen  to  tlie  echo  of  a  far-away 
voice.  There,  under  these  arches,  centuries  old,  the 
21st  of  August,  1670,  Rossuet  pronounced  the  funeral 


THE  FUNERAL    OF  LOUIS  XVIII  37 

oration  of  Madame  Henriette  of  England.  He 
said:  — 

"With  whatever  haughty  distinction  men  may 
flatter  themselves,  they  all  have  the  same  origin,  and 
this  origin  insignificant.  Their  years  follow  each 
other  like  waves ;  they  flow  unceasingly,  and  though 
the  sound  of  some  is  slightly  greater  and  their  course 
a  trifle  longer  than  those  of  others,  they  are  together 
confounded  in  an  abyss  where  are  known  neither 
princes  nor  kings  nor  the  proud  distinctions  of  men, 
as  the  most  boasted  rivers  mingle  in  the  ocean,  name- 
less and  inglorious  with  the  least  known  streams." 

Is  not  the  Church  of  Saint-Denis  itself  a  funeral 
discourse  in  stone  more  grandiose  and  eloquent  than 
that  of  the  reverend  orator  ?  Reo-ard  on  either  side 
of  the  nave  these  superb  mausoleums,  these  pompous 
tombs  that  are  but  an  empty  show,  and  since  their 
dead  dwell  not  in  them,  contemplate  these  columns 
that  seem  to  wish  to  bear  to  heaven  the  splendid  tes- 
timony of  our  nothingness !  There,  at  the  right  of 
the  main  altar,  descend  the  steps  that  lead  to  the 
crypt.  There  muse  on  all  the  kings,  the  queens,  the 
princes,  and  princesses,  whose  bones  have  been  re- 
placed at  hazard  within  these  vaults,  after  their 
bodies  had  been,  in  1793,  cast  into  a  common  ditch 
in  the  cemetery  of  the  Valois  to  be  consumed  by 
quicklime.  The  great  ones  of  the  earth,  dispos- 
sessed of  their  sepulchres,  could  they  not  say,  in  the 
region  of  shades,  in  the  mournful  words  of  the  Ser- 
moimaire :  — 


38  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

"  Death  does  not  leave  us  body  enough  to  require 
room,  and  it  is  only  the  tombs  that  claim  the  sight; 
our  body  takes  another  name;  even  that  of  corpse, 
since  it  implies  something  of  the  human  form,  re- 
mains to  it  but  a  little  time ;  it  becomes  a  something 
nameless  in  any  tongue,  so  truly  does  everything  die 
in  it,  even  the  funeral  terms  by  which  its  unhappy 
remains  are  designated.  Thus  the  Power  divine, 
justly  angered  by  our  pride,  reduces  it  to  nothing- 
ness, and,  to  level  all  conditions  forever,  makes  com- 
mon ashes  of  us  all." 

The  remains  of  so  many  sovereigns  and  princes  are 
no  longer  even  corpses.  The  corpses  have  perished 
as  ruins  perish.  You  may  no  longer  see  the  coffins 
of  the  predecessors  of  Louis  XVI.  But  those  of  the 
Martyr-King,  of  the  Queen  Marie  Antoinette,  of  the 
Duke  of  Berry,  of  Louis  XVIIL,  are  there  before  you 
in  the  crypt.  Pause.  Here  is  the  royal  vault  of  the 
Bourbons.  Your  glance  can  enter  only  a  narrow 
grated  window,  through  which  a  little  twilight 
filters.  If  a  lamp  were  not  lighted  at  the  back,  the 
eye  would  distinguish  nothing.  By  the  doubtful 
gleam  of  this  sepulchral  lamp,  you  succeed  in  mak- 
ing out  in  the  gloom  the  coffins  placed  on  trestles  of 
iron ;  to  the  left  that  of  the  Duke  of  Berry,  then  the 
two  little  coffins  of  his  children,  dead  at  birth ;  then 
in  two  rows  those  of  Mesdames  Adelaide  and  Vic- 
toire,  daughters  of  Louis  XV.,  those  of  Louis  XVI. 
and  Marie  Antoinette,  those  of  the  two  last  Princes 
of  Cond^,  died  in  1818  and  in  1830,  and  on  the  right, 


THE  FUNERAL    OF  LOUIS  XVIII  39 

at  the  very  extremity  of  tlie  vault,  that  of  the  only 
sovereign  who,  for  the  period  of  a  century,  died  upon 
the  throne,  Louis  XVIII. 

The  royal  vault  of  the  Bourbons  was  diminished 
more  than  half  to  make  room  for  the  imperial  vault 
constructed  under  Napoleon  III.  The  former  en- 
trance, on  the  steps  of  which  stand  the  Heralds- at- 
Arms  at  the  obsequies  of  the  kings,  has  been 
suppressed.  The  coffin  of  Louis  XVIII.  was  not 
placed  on  the  iron  trestles,  where  it  rests  to-day,  at 
the  time  of  his  funeral.  It  was  put  at  the  threshold 
of  the  vault,  where  it  was  to  have  been  replaced  by 
that  of  Charles  X. ;  for  by  the  ancient  tradition,  when 
a  king  of  France  dies,  as  his  successor  takes  his 
place  on  the  throne,  so  he,  in  death,  displaces  his 
predecessor.  But  Louis  XVIII.  waited  in  vain  for 
Charles  X.  in  the  royal  vault  of  the  Bourbons ;  the 
last  brother  of  Louis  XVI.  reposes  in  the  chapel  of 
the  Franciscans  at  Goritz. 

Charles  X.  is  not  alone  in  being  deprived  of  his 
rights  in  his  tomb;  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Angou- 
leme  and  the  Count  of  Chambord  were  so,  and  also 
Napoleon  HI.  The  second  Emperor  and  Prince 
Imperial,  his  son,  sleep  their  sleep  in  England ;  for 
the  Bonapartes,  like  the  Bourbons,  have  been  exiled 
from  Saint-Denis.  By  a  decree  of  the  18th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1858,  the  man  who  had  re-established  the  Empire 
decided  that  the  imperial  dynasty  should  have  its 
sepulture  in  the  ancient  necropolis  of  the  kings. 
Napoleon   III.    no    more    realized   his    dream    than 


40  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

Napoleon  I.  He  liad  completed  under  his  reign  the 
magnificent  vault  destined  for  himself  and  his  race. 
But  once  more  was  accomplished  the  Sic  vos  non  vobis, 
and  no  imperial  corpse  has  ever  taken  its  place  in  the 
still  empty  Napoleonic  vault.  The  opening  situated 
in  the  church,  near  the  centre  of  the  nave,  is  at  pres- 
ent closed  by  enormous  flagstones  framed  in  copper 
bands ;  and  as  there  is  no  inscription  on  these,  many 
people  whose  feet  tread  them  in  visiting  the  church 
do  not  suspect  that  they  have  beneath  them  the  stair- 
way of  six  steps  leading  down  to  the  vault  that  was 
to  be  the  burial  place  of  emperors.  "  Oh,  vanity !  Oh, 
nothingness!  Oh,  mortals  ignorant  of  their  desti- 
nies !  "  It  is  not  enough  that  contending  dynasties 
dispute  each  other's  crowns ;  their  covetousness  and 
rivalry  must  extend  to  their  tombs.  Not  enough  that 
sovereigns  have  been  exiled  from  their  country;  they 
must  be  exiled  from  their  graves.  Disappointments 
in  life  and  in  death.  This  is  the  last  word  of  divine 
anger,  the  last  of  the  lessons  of  Providence. 


THE   KING 

BORN  at  Versailles,  the  9th  of  October,  1757, 
Charles  X.,  King  of  France  and  Navarre,  was 
entering  his  sixty-eighth  year  at  the  time  of  his  ac- 
cession to  the  throne.  According  to  the  portrait 
traced  by  Lamartine,  "  he  had  kept  beneath  the  first 
frosts  of  age  the  freshness,  the  stature,  the  supple- 
ness, and  beauty  of  youth."  His  health  was  excel- 
lent, and  but  for  the  color  of  his  hair  —  almost  white 
—  he  would  hardly  have  been  given  more  than  fifty 
years.  As  alert  as  his  predecessor  was  immobile,  an 
untiring  hunter,  a  bold  rider,  sitting  his  horse  with 
the  grace  of  a  young  man,  a  kindly  talker,  an  affable 
sovereign,  this  survivor  of  the  court  of  Versailles, 
this  familiar  of  the  Petit- Trianon,  this  friend  of 
Marie  Antoinette,  of  the  Princess  of  Lamballe,  of 
the  Duchess  of  Polignac,  of  the  Duke  of  Lauzun, 
of  the  Prince  de  Ligne,  preserved,  despite  his  de- 
votedness,  a  great  social  prestige.  He  perpetuated 
the  traditions  of  the  elegance  of  the  old  regime. 
Having  lived  much  in  the  society  of  women,  his 
politeness  toward  them  was  exquisite.  This  former 
voluptuary  preserved  only  the  good  side  of  gallantry. 

41 


42  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEBRY 

The  Count  d'Haussonville  writes  in  his  book  enti- 
tled Ma  Jeu7iesse :  — 

"  I  have  often  seen  Charles  X.  on  horseback  re- 
viewing troops  or  following  the  chase ;  I  have  heard 
him,  seated  on  his  throne,  and  surrounded  with  all 
the  pomp  of  an  official  cortege,  pronounce  the  open- 
ing discourse  of  the  session ;  I  have  many  times  been 
near  him  at  the  little  select  fetes  that  the  Duchess 
of  Berry  used  to  give,  of  a  morning,  in  the  Pavilion 
de  Marsan,  to  amuse  the  Children  of  France,  as 
they  were  then  called,  and  to  extend  their  acquain- 
tance with  the  young  people  of  their  own  age.  One 
day  when  I  was  visiting  with  my  parents  some 
exposition  of  objects  of  art  or  flowers  in  one  of 
the  lower  halls  of  the  Louvre,  I  saw  him  approach 
my  mother  —  whom  he  had  known  in  England  — 
with  a  familiarity  at  once  respectful  and  charm- 
ing. He  plainly  wished  to  please  those  whom  he 
addressed,  and  he  had  the  gift  of  doing  so.  In  that 
kind  of  success  he  was  rarely  wanting,  especially  with 
women.  His  physiognomy  as  well  as  his  manner 
helped.  It  was  open  and  benevolent,  always  ani- 
mated by  an  easy,  perhaps  a  slightly  commonplace 
smile,  that  of  a  man  conscious  that  he  was  irresisti- 
ble, and  that  he  could,  with  a  few  amiable  words, 
overcome  all  obstacles." 

The  fiercest  adversaries  of  Charles  X.  never  denied 
the  attraction  emanating  from  his  whole  personality, 
the  chief  secret  of  which  was  kindliness.  In  his 
constaut  desire  to  charm  every  one  that  approached 


CHARLES  X. 


THE  KING  43 


him,  he  had  a  certain  something  like  feminine 
coquetry.  The  Count  of  Puymaigre,  who,  being  the 
Prefect  of  the  Oise,  saw  him  often  at  the  Chateau  of 
Compiegne,  says :  — 

"If  the  imposing  tone  of  Louis  XVIII.  intimi- 
dated, it  was  not  so  with  Charles  X. ;  there  was 
rather  danger  of  forgetting,  pacing  the  room  with 
him,  that  one  was  talking  with  a  king." 

Yet,  whatever  may  be  asserted,  the  new  monarch 
never  dreamed  of  restoring  the  old  regime.  We 
do  not  believe  that  for  a  single  instant  he  had  the 
insensate  idea  of  putting  things  back  to  where  they 
were  before  1789.  His  favorite  minister,  M.  de 
Villele,  was  not  one  of  the  great  nobles,  and  the  men 
who  were  to  take  the  chief  parts  in  the  consecration 
were  of  plebeian  origin.  The  impartial  historian  of 
the  Restoration,  M.  de  Viel-Castel,  remarked  it:  — 

"  Charles  X.  by  this  fact  alone,  that  for  three  years 
he  had  actively  shared  in  affairs  and  saw  the  diffi- 
culty of  them  better,  by  the  fact  that  he  was  no  longer 
exasperated  by  the  heat  of  the  struggle  and  by  impa- 
tience at  the  political  nullity  to  which  events  had  so 
long  condemned  him,  had  laid  aside  a  part  of  his 
former  exaggeration.  In  the  lively  satisfaction  he 
felt  in  entering  at  last,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven,  upon 
the  enjoyment  of  the  supreme  power  by  the  perspec- 
tive of  which  his  imaoination  had  been  so  lonof 
haunted,  he  was  disposed  to  neglect  nothing  to  cap- 
ture public  favor,  and  thus  gain  the  chance  to  realize 
the  dreams  of  his  life.     His  kindliness  and  natural 


44  THE  DUCUESS   OF  BERRT 

courtesy  would  have  inspired  these  tactics,  even  if 
policy  had  not  suggested  them." 

The  dignity  of  the  private  life  of  the  King  added 
to  the  respect  inspired  b}'^  his  personality.  His 
morals  were  absolutely  irreproachable.  His  wife, 
Marie  Th^rese  of  Savoy,  died  the  2d  of  June,  1805; 
he  never  remarried,  and  his  conduct  had  been  wholly 
edifying.  The  sacrifice  he  made  to  God,  in  renounc- 
ing the  love  of  women,  after  he  lost  his  well-beloved 
Countess  of  Polastron  by  death  in  1803,  was  the  more 
meritorious,  because,  apart  from  the  prestige  of  his 
birth  and  rank,  he  remained  attractive  longer  than 
men  of  his  age.  No  such  scandals  as  had  dishon- 
ored the  court  of  nearly  all  his  predecessors  occurred 
in  his,  and  the  most  malevolent  could  not  charge  him 
with  having  a  favorite.  In  his  home  he  was  a  man 
as  respectable  as  he  was  attractive,  a  tender  father,  a 
grandfather  even  more  tender,  an  affectionate  uncle, 
a  gentle,  indulgent  master  for  his  servants.  None 
of  the  divisions  that  existed  in  the  family  of  Louis 
XVIII.  api)eared  in  that  of  his  successor;  perfect 
harmony  reigned  in  the  court  of  the  Tuileries. 

Of  a  mind  more  superficial  than  profound,  Charles 
X.  did  not  lack  either  in  tact  or  in  intelligence. 
He  sincerely  desired  to  do  right,  and  his  errors  were 
made  in  good  faith,  in  obedience  to  the  mandates  of 
his  conscience.  Lamartine,  who  had  occasion  to  see 
him  near  at  hand,  thus  sums  up  his  character:  — 

"A  man  of  heart,  and  impulsive,  all  his  qualities 
were  gifts  of  nature;  hardly  any  were  the  fruit  ac- 


THE  KING  45 


quired  by  labor  and  meditation.  He  had  the  spirit 
of  the  French  race,  superficial,  rapid,  spontaneous, 
and  happy  in  the  hazard  of  repartee,  the  smile  kindly 
and  communicative,  the  glance  open,  the  hand  out- 
stretched, the  attitude  cordial,  an  ardent  thirst  for 
popularity,  great  confidence  in  his  relations  with 
others,  a  constancy  in  friendship  rare  upon  the 
throne,  true  modesty,  a  restless  seeking  for  good 
advice,  a  conscience  severe  for  himself  and  indulgent 
for  others,  a  piety  without  pettiness,  a  noble  repent- 
ance for  the  sole  weaknesses  of  his  life,  his  youthful 
amours,  a  rational  and  sincere  love  for  his  people,  an 
honest  and  religious  desire  to  make  France  hapjDy  and 
to  render  his  reign  fruitful  in  the  moral  improvement 
and  the  national  grandeur  of  the  country  confided  to 
him  by  Providence.  All  these  loyal  dispositions 
were  written  on  his  physiognomy.  A  lively  frank- 
ness, majesty,  kindness,  honesty,  candor,  all  revealed 
therein  a  man  born  to  love  and  to  be  loved.  Depth 
and  solidity  alone  were  wanting  in  this  visage;  look- 
ing at  it,  you  were  drawn  to  the  man,  you  felt  doubts 
of  the  King." 

This  remark,  just  enough  at  the  end  of  Charles 
X. 's  reign,  was  hardly  so  at  the  outset.  In  1824 
people  had  no  doubts  of  the  man  or  of  the  King.  The 
French  were  content  with  Charles  X.,  and  Charles 
X.  was  content  with  himself. 

The  new  King  said  to  himself  that  his  policy  was 
the  right  one,  because,  from  the  moment  of  his  acces- 
sion, all  hatreds  were  appeased.     With  the  absolute 


46  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

calm  enjoyed  by  France  he  compared  the  agitations, 
plots,  violence,  the  troubles  and  the  fury  of  whicli 
it  had  been  the  tlieatre  under  the  Decazes  ministry. 
From  the  day  the  Right  had  assumed  power,  and 
Louis  XVIII.  had  allowed  his  brother  to  engfage  in 
public  affairs,  the  victory  of  royalty  had  been  com- 
plete and  manifest.  Charles  X.  thought  then  that 
the  results  had  sustained  him  ;  that  foresight,  virtue, 
political  sense,  were  on  his  side.  Needless  to  say, 
every  one  about  him  supported  him  in  that  idea,  that 
he  believed  in  all  conscience  that  he  was  in  the  right, 
obeying  the  voice  of  honor  and  acting  like  a  king 
and  a  Christian.  Any  other  policy  than  his  own 
would  have  seemed  to  him  foolish  and  cowardly. 
To  hear  his  courtiers,  one  would  have  said  that  the 
age  of  gold  had  returned  in  France ;  the  felicitations 
offered  him  took  an  idyllic  tone.  The  Count  of 
Chabrol,  Prefect  of  the  Seine,  said  to  him,  Jan- 
uary 1,  1825,  at  the  grand  reception  at  the  Tuile- 
ries :  — 

"  At  your  accession,  Sire,  a  jDrestige  of  grace  and 
power  calmed,  in  the  depths  of  all  hearts,  the  last 
murmur  of  the  storm,  and  the  peace  that  we  enjoy 
to-day  is  embellished  by  a  charm  that  is  yours 
alone." 

The  same  day  the  Drapeau  Blanc  said :  — 

"  Why  is  there  an  unusual  crowd  passing  about  the 

palace  of  the  cherished  monarch  and  princes  ?     It  is 

watching  with  affection  for  a  glance  or  smile  from 

Charles!    These  are  the  new-year  gifts  for  the  people 


TEE  KING  il 


moved  by  love  for  the  noble  race  of  its  kings.  This 
glance,  expressing  only  goodness,  this  smile  so  full 
of  grace,  they  long  for  everywhere  and  always  be- 
fore their  eyes.  His  classic  and  cherished  features 
are  reproduced  in  every  form ;  every  public  place  has 
its  bust,  every  hut  its  image ;  they  are  the  domestic 
gods  of  a  worship  that  is  j)ure  and  without  supersti- 
tion, brought  to  our  families  by  peace  and  happiness." 
The  aurora  of  Charles  X.  's  reign  was  like  that  of 
his  brother  Louis  XVI.  The  two  brothers  resembled 
travellers  who,  deceived  by  the  early  morning  sun 
and  the  limpid  purity  of  the  sky,  set  forth  full  of  joy 
and  confidence,  and  are  suddenly  surprised  by  a 
frightful  tempest.  The  new  James  II.  imagined 
that  his  royalty  had  brought  his  trials  to  an  end.  It 
was,  on  the  contrary,  only  a  halt  in  the  journey  of 
misfortune  and  exile.  He  believed  the  Revolution 
finished,  and  it  had  but  begun. 


VI 

THE  DAUPHIN   AND   DAUPHINESS 

AT  the  accession  of  Charles  X.,  the  royal  family, 
properly  speaking,  consisted  of  six  persons 
only,  — the  King,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Angou- 
leme,  the  Duchess  of  Berry  and  her  two  children 
(the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  and  Mademoiselle).  By  the 
traditions  of  the  monarchy,  the  Duke  of  Angouleme, 
as  son  and  heir  of  the  King,  took  the  title  of  Dau- 
phin, and  his  wife  that  of  Dauphiness.  The  Duchess 
of  Berry,  who,  under  the  reign  of  Louis  XVIII.  was 
called  ]\Iadame  the  Duchess  of  Berrj^  was  by  right, 
henceforward,  called  simply  Madame,  a  privilege 
that  belonged  to  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme  before 
she  was  Dauphiness.  That  is  why  the  Gymnase,  the 
theatre,  under  the  special  protection  of  the  Duchess 
of  Berry,  was  called,  after  the  new  reign  began,  the 
Theatre  de  Madame. 

Born  at  Versailles  the  5th  of  August,  1775,  the 
Duke  of  Angouleme- had  just  entered  on  his  fiftieth 
year.  A  tender  and  respectful  son,  an  irreproachable 
husband,  a  brave  soldier,  he  was  lacking  in  both 
brilliant  and  solid  qualities.  His  awkward  air,  his 
bashfulness,  his  myopia,  his  manners  rather  bourgeois 
48 


THE  DAUPHIN  AND  DAUPHINESS  49 

than  princely,  were  against  liira.  He  liad  nothing  of 
the  cliaim  and  grace  of  his  father.  But  when  one 
knew  him,  it  was  easy  to  see  that  he  had  unques- 
tioned virtues  and  real  worth.  To  Charles  X.  he 
was  a  most  faithful  subject  and  the  best  of  sons.  In 
contrast  with  so  many  heirs  apparent,  who  openly  or 
secretly  combat  the  political  ideas  of  their  fathers,  he 
was  always  the  humble  and  docile  supporter  of  the 
throne.  The  Spanish  expedition  brought  him  credit. 
In  it  he  showed  courage  and  zeal.  The  army  esteemed 
him,  and  he  gave  serious  attention  to  military  matters. 
A  man  of  good  sense  and  good  faith,  he  held  himself 
Jiloof  from  all  exaggerations.  At  the  time  of  the 
reaction  of  the  White  Terror,  he  had  repudiated  the 
fury  of  the  ultras,  and  distinguished  himself  by  a 
praiseworthy  moderation.  He  had  great  piety,  with- 
out hypocrisy,  bigotry,  or  fanaticism.  The  Count  of 
Puymaigre,  in  his  curious  Souvenirs,  says  :  — 

"  The  Duke  of  Angouleme  appeared  to  me  to  be 
always  subordinated  to  the  will  of  the  King,  and  he 
said  to  me  one  day  very  emphatically  that  his  jjosi- 
tion  forbade  any  manifestation  of  personal  sentiment, 
because  it  Avas  unbecoming  in  the  heir  apparent  to 
sustain  the  opposition.  Though  very  religious,  he 
did  not  share  the  exaggerated  ideas  of  what  was  then 
called  the  'congregation,'  and  I  recall  that  one  day 
he  asked  me  brusquely :  '  Are  you  a  partisan  of  the 
missions?'  As  I  hesitated  to  reply,  he  insisted. 
'No,  my  lord,  in  nowise;  I  think  that  one  good 
cur4  suffices  for  a  commune,  and  that  missionaries, 


50  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

by  treating  the  public  mind  with  an  unusual  fervor, 
often  bring  trouble  with  them  and  at  the  same  time 
often  lessen  the  consideration  due  to  the  resident 
priest.'" 

Married,  on  the  10th  of  June,  1799,  to  the  daughter 
of  Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette,  the  Duke 
of  Angouleme  had  no  children ;  but  though  the  ster- 
ilty  of  his  wife  Avas  an  affliction,  he  never  complained 
of  it.  He  was  not  known  to  have  either  favorites  or 
mistresses.  The  life  of  this  descendant  of  Louis 
XIV.  and  of  Louis  XV.  was  purity  itself.  There 
were  neither  scandals  nor  intrigues  about  him.  By 
nature  irascible  and  obstinate,  he  had  modified  this 
tendency  of  his  character  by  reason  and  still  more  by 
religion.  Assiduous  in  his  duties,  without  arro- 
gance or  vanity,  regarding  his  rSle  as  Prince  as 
a  mission  given  him  by  Providence,  which  he 
wished  to  fulfil  conscientiously,  he  had  not  the 
slightest  mental  reservation  in  favor  of  restoring 
the  old  regime,  and  showed,  perhaps,  more  favor 
to  the  lieutenants  of  Napoleon  than  to  the  officers  of 
the  army  of  Cond^,  his  companions  in  arms.  To  sum 
up,  he  was  not  an  attractive  prince,  but  he  merited 
respect.  The  Count  of  Puymaigre  thus  concludes 
the  portrait  traced  by  him :  — 

"  The  manner,  bearing,  and  gestures  of  the  Duke 
of  Angouleme  cannot  be  called  gracious,  especially 
in  contrast  with  his  father's  manners ;  doubtless  it  is 
not  fair  to  ask  that  a  prince,  any  more  than  another, 
should  be  favored  by  nature,  but  it  is  much  to  be 


THE  DAUPHIN  AND  DAUPHINESS  51 

desired  that  he  shall  have  an  air  of  superiority.  The 
ruling  taste  of  the  Dauphin  was  for  the  chase.  He 
also  read  much  and  gave  much  time  to  the  personnel 
of  the  army.  Retiring  early,  he  arose  every  morning 
at  five  o'clock,  and  lighted  his  own  fire.  Far  from 
having  anything  to  complain  of  in  him,  I  could  only 
congratulate  myself  on  his  kindness." 

The  Dauphiness,  Marie -Theresa -Charlotte  of 
France,  Duchess  of  Angouleme,  born  at  Versailles 
the  19th  of  December,  1778,  was  forty-five  years  old 
when  her  uncle  and  father-in-law,  Charles  X.,  as- 
cended the  throne.  She  was  surrounded  by  universal 
veneration.  She  was  regarded,  and  with  reason,  as 
a  veritable  saint,  and  by  all  parties  was  declared  to 
be  sans  peur  et  sans  rejjroche. 

The  Duchess  of  Angouleme,  shunning  the  noto- 
riety sought  by  other  princesses,  preferred  her  oratory 
to  the  salons.  Yet  her  devotion  had  nothing  mean 
or  narrow  in  it.  Despite  the  legendary  catastrophes 
that  weighed  upon  her,-  she  always  appeared  at  fetes 
where  her  presence  was  demanded.  She  laughed  with 
good  heart  at  the  theatre,  and  there  was  nothing  morose 
or  ascetic  in  her  conversation.  She  never  spoke  of 
her  misfortunes.  One  day  she  was  pitying  a  young 
girl  who  suffered  from  chilblains.  "I  know  what 
it  is,"  she  said;  "I  have  had  them."  Then  she 
added,  without  other  comment :  "  True,  the  winters 
were  very  severe  at  that  time."  She  did  not  wish  to 
say  that  she  had  had  these  chilblains  while  a  prisoner 
in  the  Temple,  when  fuel  was  refused  to  her. 


52  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

But  if  tlie  Princess  never  spoke  of  herself,  she 
never  ceased  to  think  of  the  martyrs  for  whom  she 
wept.  At  the  Tuileries,  she  occupied  the  PaviUon 
de  I'Horloge  and  the  Pavilion  de  Flore,  the  first  floor 
apartments  that  had  been  her  mother's.  She  used 
for  her  own  a  little  salon  hung  with  white  velvet 
sown  with  marguerite  lilies.  This  tapestry  was 
the  work  of  the  unhappy  Queen  and  of  Madame 
Elisabeth.  In  the  same  room  was  a  stool  on  which 
Louis  XVII.  had  languished  and  suffered.  It  served 
as  2)rie-dieu  to  the  Orphan  of  the  Temple.  There 
was  in  this  stool  a  drawer  where  she  had  put  away 
the  remaining  relics  of  her  parents:  the  black  silk 
vest  and  white  cravat  worn  by  Louis  XVI.  the  day 
of  his  death;  a  lace  bonnet  of  Marie  Antoinette,  the 
last  work  done  by  the  Queen  in  her  prison  of  the 
Conciergerie,  which  Robespierre  had  had  taken  from 
her  on  the  pretext  that  the  widow  of  the  Christian 
King  might  kill  herself  with  her  needle  or  with 
a  lace-string;  finally  some  fragments  of  the  fichu 
which  the  wind  raised  from  the  shoulders  of  JNIadame 
Elisabeth  when  the  angelic  Princess  was  already  on 
the  scaffold.  The  Dauphiness,  who  usually  dined 
with  the  King,  dined  alone  on  the  21st  of  January 
and  the  16th  of  October.  She  shut  herself  in  the 
chamber  where  she  had  collected  these  relics  and 
passed  the  whole  day  and  evening  there  in  prayer. 

The  charity  of  the  pious  Princess  was  inexhausti- 
ble. Almost  all  her  revenue  was  expended  in  alms. 
She  would  not  have  receipts  signed  by  those  to  whom 


THE  DAUPHIN  AND  DAUPHINESS  53 

she  distributed  relief.  "The  duty  of  givers,"  she 
said,  "  is  to  forget  tlieir  gifts  and  the  names  of  those 
who  receive  them ;  it  is  for  those  who  receive  to  re- 
member." Nor  did  she  ever  ask  the  political  opin- 
ions of  those  she  relieved.  To  be  unfortunate, 
sufficed  to  excite  her  interest.  One  day  Sister 
Rosalie,  charged  by  the  Princess  with  paying  a  pen- 
sion to  a  man  whose  ill  conduct  she  had  discovered, 
thought  it  her  duty  to  notify  the  benefactress,  and 
suspend  the  succor.  "My  sister,"  replied  the  Dau- 
phiness,  "continue  to  pay  this  man  his  pension. 
We  must  be  charitable  to  the  good  that  they  may 
persevere,  and  to  the  bad  that  they  may  become 
better."  Sunday,  when  the  Princess  did  no  work, 
she  passed  the  evening  in  detaching  the  wax  seals 
from  letters  and  envelopes.  This  wax,  converted 
into  sticks,  produced  one  thousand  francs  a  year, 
which  she  sent  to  a  poor  family.  She  gave  much, 
but  only  to  Frenchmen  and  Frenchwomen.  She  re- 
plied to  every  demand  for  aid  for  foreigners  that  she 
was  sorry  not  to  comply  Avith  the  request,  but  she 
should  feel  that  she  was  doing  an  injustice  to  give  to 
others  while  there  was  a  single  Frenchman  in  need. 
On  each  anniversary  of  mourning  she  doubled  her 
alms. 

The  existence  of  the  Dauphiness  at  the  Tuileries 
passed  with  extreme  regularity.  A  very  early  riser, 
like  her  husband,  she  made  her  toilet  herself,  having 
learned  to  help  herself  in  her  captivity  in  the  Temple. 
She  used  to  breakfast  at  six  o'clock,  and  at  seven 


54  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEEIiY 

daily  attended  the  first  Mass  in  tlie  chapel  of  the 
Chateau.  There  was  a  second  at  nine  o'clock  for 
the  Dauphin,  and  a  third  at  eleven  for  the  King. 
From  eight  to  eleven  she  held  audiences.  She  re- 
tired at  ten  o'clock,  and  only  prolonged  the  evening 
to  eleven  when  she  visited  the  Duchess  of  Berry,  for 
whom  she  had  a  great  affection,  and  whose  childi-en 
she  saw  two  or  three  times  a  day.  A  devoted  com- 
panion of  Charles  X. ,  she  always  went  with  him  to 
the  various  royal  chateaux.  The  Count  of  Puy- 
maigre  says  in  his  Souvenirs  :  — 

"  The  Dauphiness  having  by  her  kindness  accus- 
tomed me  to  speaking  freely,  I  used  this  privilege 
without  embarrassment,  but  always  observing  that 
measure  which  keeps  a  man  of  good  society  within 
just  limits,  equally  careful  not  to  put  himself  ridicu- 
lously at  ease  and  not  to  be  so  abashed  by  exagger- 
ated respect  as  to  become  insipid.  I  have  always 
thought  that  a  princess  no  more  than  any  other 
woman  likes  to  be  bored.  I  talked  much  with 
her  in  the  carriage,  seeking  to  amuse  the  Princess 
with  a  few  anecdotes,  and  I  did  not  fear  to  discuss 
serious  things  with  her,  on  which  she  expressed  her- 
self with  real  sagacity.  When  she  was  accused  of 
want  of  tact  in  the  numerous  receptions  of  which  one 
had  to  undergo  the  monoton}^,  it  was  often  the  fault 
of  her  immediate  companions,  who  neglected  to  give 
her  suitable  information  as  to  the  various  persons 
received.  How  many  times  I  have  hinted  to  her  to 
speak  to  some  devoted  man,  who  regarded  a  word 


THE  DAUPHIN  AND  DAUPHINESS  55 

from  the  Princess  as  a  signal  favor,  to  yield  to  re- 
quests, perhaps  untimely,  to  visit  some  establish- 
ment, to  receive  the  humble  petitions  of  a  mayor,  a 
cur^,  or  a  municipal  council.  I  will  not  deny  that 
she  had  a  sort  of  brusqueness,  partly  due  to  an  exceed- 
ingly high  voice,  and  moments  of  ill  humor,  transient 
no  doubt,  but  which  nevertheless  left  a  painful  im- 
pression on  those  who  were  subjected  to  them.  Ma- 
dame the  Dauphiness  made  no  mistake  as  to  the  state 
of  France ;  she  was  not  the  dupe  of  the  obsequiousness 
of  certain  men  of  the  court,  and  merit  was  certain  to 
obtain  her  support  whether  it  had  been  manifested 
under  the  old  or  the  new  regime ;  but  she  had  not  the 
influence  she  was  supposed  to  have,  and  I  doubt  if 
she  tried  to  acquire  it." 

One  day  the  Princess  was  talking  to  the  Prefect  of 
the  Oise  about  the  great  noblemen  who  had  posses- 
sions in  the  Department. 

"Have  they  any  influence  over  the  people?"  she 
asked  him. 

"No,  Madame,  and  it  is  their  own  fault.  M.  de 
La  Rochefoucauld  is  the  only  one  who  is  popular, 
but  his  influence  is  against  you.  As  to  the  others, 
greedy  of  the  benefits  of  the  court,  they  come  to  their 
estates  only  to  save  money,  to  regulate  their  accounts 
with  their  managers,  and  the  people,  receiving  no 
mark  of  their  interest,  acknowledge  no  obligation  to 
them." 

"You  are  perfectly  right,"  rejilied  the  Dauphiness, 
"that  is  not  the  way  with  the  English  aristocracy." 


56  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

"She  saw  with  pain,"  adds  M.  de  Puymaigre, 
"  the  marriages  for  money  made  by  certain  men  of 
the  court,  but  not  when  they  allied  themselves  with 
an  honorable  plebeian  family;  her  indignation  was 
justly  shown  toward  those  who  took  their  wives  in 
families  whose  coveted  riches  came  from  an  impure 
source." 

The  extraordinary  catastrophes  that  had  fallen  on 
the  daughter  of  Louis  XVI.  and  Marie  Antoinette 
had  been  a  great  experience  for  her,  and  she  was  not 
surprised  at  the  recantations  of  the  courtiers.  The 
Hundi-ed  Days  had,  perhaps,  suggested  even  more 
reflections  to  her  than  her  captivity  in  the  Temple  or 
her  early  exile.  She  could  not  forget  how,  in  1815, 
she  had  been  abandoned  by  officers  who,  but  the  day 
before,  had  offered  her  such  protestations  and  such 
vows.  In  the  midst  of  j)resent  prosperity  she  had  a 
sort  of  instinct  of  future  adversity.  Something  told 
her  that  she  was  not  done  with  sorrow,  and  that  the 
cup  of  bitterness  was  not  drained  to  the  dregs. 
AVhile  every  one  about  her  contemplated  the  future 
with  serene  confidence,  she  reflected  on  the  extreme 
mobility  of  the  French  character,  and  still  distrusted 
inconstant  fortune.  The  morrow  of  the  birth  of 
the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  one  of  her  household  said  to 
her :  — 

"Your  Highness  was  very  happy  yesterday." 
"  Yes,  very  happ}'^  yesterday, "  responded  the  daugh- 
ter of  Louis  XVI.,   "but  to-day  I  am  reflecting  on 
the  destiny  of  this  child." 


THE  DAUPHIN  AND  DAUPHINESS  57 

To  any  one  inclined  to  be  deceived  by  the  illusions 
of  the  prestige  surrounding  the  accession  of  Charles 
X.,  it  ought  to  have  sufficed  to  cast  a  glance  on  the 
austere  countenance  of  the  Orphan  of  the  Temple,  to 
be  recalled  to  the  tragic  realit}^  of  things.  The  King 
had  for  his  niece  and  daughter-in-law  an  affection 
blended  with  compassion  and  respect.  The  pious 
and  revered  Princess  gave  to  the  court  a  character  of 
gravity  and  sanctity. 


VII 

MADAME 

THE  Duchess  of  Angouleme  and  the  Duchess  of 
Berry  lived  on  the  best  of  terms,  showing 
toward  each  other  a  lively  sympathy.  Yet  there  was 
little  analogy  between  their  characters,  and  the  two 
Princesses  might  even  be  said  to  form  a  complete 
contrast,  one  representing  the  grave  side,  the  other 
the  smiling  side  of  the  court. 

Born  November  7,  1798,  and  a  widow  since  Feb- 
ruary 14,  1820,  Madame  (as  the  Duchess  of  Berry 
was  called  after  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme  became 
Dauphiness)  was  but  twenty-five  when  her  father-in- 
law,  Charles  X.,  ascended  the  throne.  She  was  cer- 
tainly not  pretty,  but  there  was  in  her  something 
seductive  and  captivating.  The  vivacity  of  her 
manner,  her  spontaneous  conversation,  her  ardor, 
her  animation,  her  youth,  gave  her  charm.  Edu- 
cated at  the  court  of  her  grandfather,  Ferdinand, 
King  of  Naples,  who  carried  bonhomie  and  famil- 
iarity to  exaggeration,  and  lived  in  the  company  of 
peasants  and  lazzaroni,  she  had  a  horror  of  pretension 
and  conceit.  Her  child-like  physiognomy  had  a 
certain  playful  and  rebellious  expression;  slightly 
68 


MADAME  59 

indecorous  speech  did  not  displease  her.  This  idol 
of  the  aristocracy  was  simple  and  jovial,  mingling  in 
her  conversation  Gallic  salt  and  Neapolitan  gaiety. 
In  contrast  with  so  many  princesses  who  weary  their 
companions  and  are  wearied  by  them,  she  amused 
herself  and  others.  Entering  a  family  celebrated  by 
its  legendary  catastrophes,  she  had  lost  nothing  of 
the  playfulness  which  was  the  essence  of  her  nature. 
The  Tuileries,  the  scene  of  such  terrible  dramas,  did 
not  inspire  her  as  it  did  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme, 
with  sad  reflections.  When  she  heard  Mass  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  Chateau,  she  did  not  say  to  herself  that 
here  had  resounded  the  furies  of  the  Convention. 
The  grand  apartments,  the  court  of  the  Can-ousel, 
the  garden,  could  not  recall  to  her  the  terrible  scenes 
of  the  20th  of  June  and  the  10th  of  August.  When 
she  entered  the  Pavilion  de  Flore,  she  did  not  reflect 
that  there  had  sat  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety. 
The  Tuileries  were,  to  her  eyes,  only  the  abode  of 
power  and  pleasure,  an  agreeable  and  beautiful  dwell- 
ing that  had  brought  her  only  happiness,  since  there 
she  had  given  birth  to  the  Child  of  Europe,  the 
"Child  of  Miracle." 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  thought  that  a  palace  should 
be  neither  a  barracks  nor  a  convent  nor  a  prison,  and 
that  even  for  a  princess  there  is  no  happiness  with- 
out liberty.  She  loved  to  go  out  without  an  escort, 
to  take  walks,  to  visit  the  shops,  to  go  to  the  little 
theatres,  to  make  country  parties.  She  was  like  a 
bird  in  a  gilded  cage,  which  often  escapes  and  returns 


60  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERBY 

with  pleasure  only  because  it  has  escaped.  She  was 
neither  worn  out  nor  blasee ;  everything  interested 
her,  everything  made  her  gay ;  she  saw  only  the  good 
side  of  things.  In  her  all  was  young  —  mind,  char- 
acter, imagination,  heart.  Thus  she  knew  none  of 
those  vague  disquietudes,  that  causeless  melancholy, 
that  unreasoned  sadness,  from  which  suffer  so  many 
queens  and  so  many  princesses  on  the  steps  of  a 
throne. 

Gracious  and  simple  in  her  manners,  modest  in  her 
bearing,  more  inclined  to  laughter  and  smiles  than  to 
sobs  and  tears,  satisfied  with  her  lot  despite  her 
widowhood,  she  felt  happy  in  being  a  princess,  in 
being  a  mother,  in  being  in  France.  Flattered  by 
the  homage  addressed  to  her  on  all  sides,  but  without 
haughty  pride  in  it,  she  protected  art  and  letters  with- 
out pedantry,  rejuvenated  the  court,  embellished  the 
city,  spread  animation  wherever  she  was  seen,  and 
appeared  to  the  people  like  a  seductive  enchantress. 
Those  who  were  at  her  receptions  found  themselves 
not  in  the  presence  of  a  coldly  and  solemnly  majestic 
princess,  but  of  an  accomplished  mistress  of  the 
house  bent  on  making  her  salon  agreeable  to  her 
guests.  There  was  in  her  nothing  to  abash,  and  by 
her  gracious  aspect,  her  extreme  affability,  she  knew 
how  to  put  those  with  whom  she  talked  at  their 
ease,  while  wholly  preserving  her  own  rank.  She 
was  not  only  polite,  she  was  engaging,  always  seek- 
ing to  say  something  flattering  or  kindly  to  those  who 
had  the  honor  to  approach  her.     If  she  visited  a  stu- 


MADAME  61 

dio,  she  congratulated  the  artist ;  in  a  shop  she  made 
many  purchases  and  talked  with  the  merchants  with 
a  grace  more  charming  to  them,  perhaps,  than  even 
her  extreme  liberality.  If  she  went  to  a  theatre, 
she  enjoyed  herself  like  a  child.  The  select  little 
fetes  given  by  her  always  had  a  character  of  special 
originality  and  gaiety. 

The  Dauphiness  had  a  higher  rank  at  court  than 
Madame,  because  she  was  married  to  the  heir  of  the 
throne.  But  as  she  took  much  less  interest  in  social 
mattei's,  she  did  not  shine  with  so  much  eclat.  The 
Duchess  of  Berry  was  the  queen  of  elegance.  In  all 
questions  of  adornment,  toilet,  furniture,  she  set  the 
fashion.  A  commission  as  "tradesman  of  Madame" 
was  the  dream  of  all  the  merchants.  Sometimes,  on 
New  Year's  Day,  her  purchases  at  the  chief  shops 
were  announced  in  the  Moniteur.  There  were  hardly 
any  chroniques  in  the  journals  under  the  Restoration. 
A  simple  "  item  "  sulficed  for  an  account  of  the  most 
dazzling  fetes.  If  the  customs  of  the  newspapers  had 
been  under  the  reign  of  Charles  X.  what  they  are 
now,  the  Duchess  of  Berry  would  have  filled  all  the 
"society  notes,"  and  the  objective  point  of  every 
"reporter,"  to  use  an  American  expression,  would 
have  been  the  Pavilion  de  Marsan,  the  "  Little  Cha- 
teau," as  it  was  then  called.  There  indeed  shone  in 
all  their  splendor  the  stars  of  French  and  foreign 
nobility,  the  women  wlio  possessed  all  sorts  of  aris- 
tocracy —  of  birth,  of  fortune,  of  wit,  and  of  beauty. 
This  little  circle  of  luxury  and  elegance  excited  less 


62  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

jealousy  and  less  criticism  than  did  the  intimate 
society  of  Marie  Antoinette  in  the  last  part  of  the 
old  regime,  because  in  the  Queen's  time,  to  fre- 
quent the  Petit  Trianon  was  the  road  to  honors, 
while  under  Charles  X.  the  intimates  of  the  Pavil- 
ion de  Marsan  did  not  make  their  social  pleasures 
the  stepping-stone  to  fortune. 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  never  meddled  in  politics. 
Doubtless  her  sympathies,  like  those  of  the  Dau- 
phiness,  were  with  the  Right,  but  she  exercised 
no  influence  on  the  appointment  of  ministers  and 
functionaries.  Charles  X.  never  consulted  her  about 
public  affairs ;  the  idea  would  never  have  occurred  to 
the  old  King  to  ask  counsel  of  so  young  and  inexpe- 
rienced a  woman. 

It  is  but  justice  to  the  Princess  to  say  that  while 
wholly  inclined  toward  the  Right,  she  had  none  of 
the  exaggeration  of  the  extremists  in  either  her  ideas 
or  her  attitude,  and  that,  repudiating  the  arrogance 
and  prejudices  of  the  past,  she  never,  in  any  way, 
dreamed  of  the  resurrection  of  the  old  regime. 
She  was  liked  by  the  army,  being  known  as  a  good 
rider  and  a  courageous  Princess.  When  she  talked 
with  officers  she  had  the  habit  of  saying  things  that 
went  straiofht  to  their  hearts.  There  was  no  differ- 
ence  in  her  politeness  to  the  men  of  the  old  nobility 
or  to  the  parvenus  of  victory.  The  former  servitors 
of  Napoleon  were  grateful  for  her  friendliness  to 
them,  and  perhaps  they  would  always  have  respected 
the  white  flag  —  the  flag  of  Henry  IV.,  had  it  been 


MADAME  63 


borne  by  the  gracious  hand  of  his  worthy  descendant. 
To  sum  up,  she  was  what  would  be  called  to-day  a 
very  "modern"  Princess;  her  rSle  might  well  have 
been  to  share  the  ideas  and  aspirations  of  the  new 
France. 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  led  a  very  active  life. 
When  she  came  to  France  she  was  in  the  habit  of 
rising  late.  But  her  husband,  who  believed  the  days 
to  be  shorter  for  j)rinces  than  for  other  men,  showed 
that  he  disliked  this,  and  after  that  the  Princess  would 
not  remain  in  bed  after  six  o'clock,  winter  or  sum- 
mer. As  soon  as  she  was  ready  she  summoned  her 
children,  and  for  half  an  hour  gave  them  her  instruc- 
tions. On  leaving  them,  she  went  to  hear  Mass,  and 
then  breakfasted.  Next  came  the  walks,  almost 
always  with  a  useful  object  in  view.  Sometimes  it 
was  a  hospital  to  which  Madame  carried  relief,  some- 
times an  artist's  studio,  a  shop,  an  industrial  estab- 
lishment that  she  encouraged  by  her  purchases  and 
her  presence.  On  her  return  she  busied  herself  with 
the  tenderest  and  most  conscientious  care  in  the  edu- 
cation of  the  two  daughters  whom  her  husband  had 
left  to  her,  and  who  have  since  become,  one  the 
Baroness  of  Chorette,  the  other  the  Princess  of 
Lucinge.  Audiences  took  up  the  remainder  of  the 
morning,  sometimes  lasting  to  dinner  time.  When 
some  one  said  to  her  one  day  that  she  must  be  very 
tired  of  them,  she  replied :  "  During  all  that  time  I 
am  told  the  truth,  and  I  find  as  much  pleasure  in  hear- 
ing it  as  people  of  society  do  in  reading  romances." 


64  TEE  DUCHESS   OF  BEERY 

Madame  was  very  charitable.  She  devoted  to  the 
poor  an  ordinary  and  an  extraordinary  budget.  The 
tenth  of  her  revenue  was  always  applied  to  the  relief 
of  the  unfortunate,  and  was  deposited  by  twelfths, 
each  month,  with  her  First  Almoner.  This  tithe  was 
distributed  with  as  much  method  as  sagacity.  A 
valet  de  chambre,  each  evening,  brought  to  the  Prin- 
cess the  day's  petitions  for  relief.  Madame  classified 
them  with  her  own  hand  in  alphabetical  order,  and 
registered  and  numbered  them.  Whatever  the  hour, 
she  never  adjourned  this  task  to  the  morrow.  The 
private  secretary  then  went  over  these  petitions  and 
presented  an  analysis  of  them  to  the  Princess,  who 
indicated  on  the  margin  what  she  wished  to  give. 
This  was  the  ordinary  budget  of  the  poor,  the  tenth 
of  Madame's  revenue.  But  she  had,  besides,  an  ex- 
traordinary budget  of  charity  for  the  unfortunate 
who  were  the  more  to  be  respected  because  they 
concealed  themselves  in  obscurity  and  awaited  in- 
stead of  seeking  help.  It  often  happened  that  the 
Princess  borrowed  in  order  to  give  more.  The  total 
of  her  revenues  amounted  to  1, 730, 000  francs,  — 
1,500,000  francs  from  the  Treasury,  100,000  francs 
in  Naples  funds,  coming  from  her  dower,  and  130, 000 
francs  from  her  domain  of  Rosny.  INIadame  expended 
all  in  alms  or  in  purchases  intended  to  encourage  the 
arts  and  commerce. 

The  Duchess  of  Angouleme  and  the  Duchess  of 
Berry  each  had  in  the  environs  of  Paris  a  pleasure 
house,  which  was  their  Petit  Trianon,  where  they 


MADAME  65 

could  lead  a  simpler  life,  less  subject  to  the  laws  of 
etiquette  than  in  the  royal  Chateaux.  That  of  the 
Dauphiness  was  Villeneuve-l'Etang;  and  that  of 
Madame,  Rosny.  The  first  had  been  bought  of  Mar- 
shal Soult  by  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme  in  1821. 
When  she  rode  from  Paris,  this  was  always  her  des- 
tination. When  she  lived  at  Saint  Cloud,  she  often 
set  out  on  foot  in  the  early  morning  alone,  and  fol- 
lowed across  the  park  a  little  path  known  as  the  "  road 
of  the  Dauphiness,"  to  a  little  gate  of  the  Chateau  of 
Villeneuve-l'Etang,  of  which  she  carried  the  key. 

Rosny  is  a  chateau  situated  in  the  Department  of 
Seine-et-Oise,  seven  kilometres  from  Mantes,  where 
Sully,  the  famous  minister  of  Henry  IV.,  was  born, 
and  which  had  been  bought  in  1818  by  the  Duke  of 
Berry.  It  was  the  favorite  resort  of  Madame.  She 
went  there  often  and  passed  a  great  part  of  the  sum- 
mer. There  she  lived  the  life  of  a  simple  private 
person,  receiving  herself  those  who  came  to  offer 
homage  or  request  aid.  The  village  of  Rosny  profited 
by  the  liberality  of  the  Chateau.  La  Quotidienne 
said  in  an  article  reproduced  by  the  Moniteur :  — 

"Since  Her  Royal  Highness  the  Duchess  of  Berry 
has  owned  the  estate  of  Rosny,  her  sole  occupation 
has  been  to  secure  the  happiness  of  this  countiy. 
Every  journey  she  makes  is  marked  by  some  act  of 
goodness.  Besides  the  Hospital  of  Saint-Charles,  a 
monument  of  her  beneficence  and  piety,  which  is 
open  to  all  the  sick  of  the  country,  she  sends  out 
relief  to  the  homes  of  the  needy  every  day.     The 


66  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

houses  that  rise  in  the  village  replace  wretched  huts, 
and  give  a  more  agreeable  and  cheerful  aspect  to  the 
place.  The  children  of  either  sex,  the  object  of  her 
most  tender  solicitude,  are  taught  at  her  expense. 
At  every  journey  Madame  honors  them  with  a  visit 
and  encourages  them  with  prizes  which  she  conde- 
scends to  distribute  herself." 

In  his  Souvenirs  Intimes  the  Count  de  Mesnard, 
First  Equerry  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry,  writes :  — 

"The  King,  Charles  X.,  did  not  recognize  in  his 
daughter-in-law  nearly  the  solidity  that  she  had.  He 
believed  her  to  be  light-minded,  and  only  looked  upon 
her  as  a  great  child,  though  he  loved  her  much  and 
her  gaiety  pleased  him  beyond  measure,  being  him- 
self of  a  gay  nature.  You  may  have  heard  that  one 
dsij  Madame  rode  in  an  omnibus.  That  is  not  cor- 
rect. But  it  is  true  that  one  day  Her  Royal  High- 
ness said  to  the  King :  — 

'"Father,  if  you  will  wager  ten  thousand  francs, 
I  will  ride  in  an  omnibus  to-morrow. ' 

'"It's  the  last  thing  I  should  do,  my  dear,'  replied 
His  Majesty.  'You  are  quite  crazy  enough  to  do 
it.'" 

M.  de  Mesnard  adds  this  reflection:  "What  the 
King  regarded  as  folly  was  only  the  appearance  of 
it.  There  was  in  Madame  a  rich  fund  of  reason, 
justice,  and  humanity.  Independently  of  all  the 
acts  of  beneficence  daily  done  here,  Madame  employs 
still  more  considerable  sums  in  the  support  of  young 
girls  in  the  convents  of  LuQon  and  Mantes,  and  in 


MADAME  67 


several  other  establishments.  There  are  in  the  col- 
leges a  large  number  of  young  people  of  families  of 
modest  fortune,  whose  expenses  she  pays.  The  Hos- 
pital of  Rosny  alone  costs  Madame  from  twenty  thou- 
sand to  twenty-five  thousand  francs  a  year.  The 
exhaustless  bounty  of  this  august  Princess  extends 
to  all.  There  is  no  sort  of  aid  that  Her  Royal  High- 
ness does  not  take  pleasure  in  according:  subscrip- 
tions without  interest  for  her,  for  concerts  that  she 
will  not  hear,  for  benefit  performances  that  she  will 
not  see,  everything  gets  a  subscription  from  her,  and 
it  all  costs  more  than  is  convenient  with  the  Prin- 
cess's revenue.  Sometimes  it  happens  that  her  funds 
are  exhausted,  and  as  her  benevolence  never  is,  em- 
barrassment follows." 

Apropos  of  this  the  Count  de  Mesnard  relates  a 
touching  anecdote.  One  winter  exceedingly  cold, 
the  Duchess  of  Berry  was  about  to  give  a  fete  in  the 
Pavilion  de  Marsan.  During  the  day  she  had  super- 
vised the  preparations.  Things  were  arranged  per- 
fectly, when  all  at  once  her  face  saddened.  She 
was  asked  respectfully  what  had  displeased  her. 
"  What  icy  weather!  "  she  cried.  " Poor  people  may 
be  dying  of  cold  and  hunger  to-night  while  we  are 
taking  our  delights.  That  spoils  my  pleasure." 
Then  she  added  emphaticall}-:  "Go  call  the  Marquis 
de  Sassenay "(her  Treasurer). 

The  Marquis  came  promptly. 

"Monsieur,"  said  the  good  Princess,  "you  must 
write  instantly  to  the  twelve  mayors  of  Paris,  and 


68  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

in  each  letter  put  one  thousand  francs  to  be  ex- 
pended in  wood,  and  distributed  this  very  night  to 
the  poor  families  of  each  arrondissement.  It  is  very 
little,  but  it  may  save  some  unfortunates." 

The  Treasurer  responded :  "  Madame,  I  should  be 
eager  to  obey  the  orders  of  Her  Royal  Highness,  but 
she  has  nothing,  or  almost  nothing,  in  her  treasury." 

A  feeling  of  discontent  was  strongly  depicted  on 
the  face  of  Madame,  who  was  about  to  give  expres- 
sion to  it,  when  M.  de  Mesnard  hastened  to  say  that 
the  funds  of  the  First  Equerry  were  in  better  state 
than  those  of  the  Treasurer,  and  remitted  to  the  latter 
the  twelve  thousand  francs,  which  were  distributed 
to  the  poor  that  evening  according  to  the  Princess's 
wishes. 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  had  the  double  gift  of  pleas- 
ing and  making  herself  loved.  All  the  persons  of 
her  household,  all  her  servitors,  from  the  great  nobles 
and  great  ladies  to  the  domestics  and  the  chamber- 
maids, were  deeply  devoted  to  her.  Poor  or  rich, 
she  had  attentions  for  all.  Listen  to  the  Count  de 
Mesnard :  — 

"Madame  is  incessantly  making  presents  to  all 
who  approach  her.  At  New  Year's  her  apartments  are 
a  veritable  bazaar  furnished  from  all  the  shops  of 
Paris;  her  provision,  made  from  every  quarter,  is 
universal,  from  bon-bons  to  the  most  precious  articles 
—  everything  is  there.  Madame  has  thought  of  each 
specially;  the  people  of  her  own  service  are  not  for- 
gotten any  more  than  the  ladies  and  officers  of  her 


MADAME  69 


household;  father,  mother,  children,  every  one,  is 
included  in  the  distribution.  The  royal  family 
naturally  comes  first;  next,  the  numerous  relatives 
of  the  Palais  Royal,  of  whom  she  is  very  fond ;  then 
her  family  at  Naples,  which  is  also  numerous ;  and 
finally  all  of  us,  masters  and  servants,  we  all  have 
our  turn." 

No  one,  we  think,  has  made  a  more  exact  portrait 
of  the  Duchess  of  Berry  than  the  Count  Armand  de 
Pontmartin,  who  is  so  familiar  with  the  Restoration. 
In  his  truthful  and  lively  Souvenirs  d'un  vieux  cri- 
tique^ how  well  he  presents  "this  flower  of  Ischia  or 
of  Castellamare,  transplanted  to  the  banks  of  the 
Seine,  under  the  gray  sky  of  Paris,  to  this  Chateau 
des  Tuileries,  which  the  revolutions  peopled  with 
phantoms  before  making  it  a  spectre." 

How  really  she  was  "this  good  Duchess,  so 
French  and  so  Neapolitan  at  once,  half  Vesuvius, 
half  school-girl,  whom  nothing  must  prevent  us  from 
honoring  and  loving."  The  chivalric  and  senti- 
mental rhetoric  of  the  time,  the  elegies  of  the  poets, 
the  noble  prose  of  Chateaubriand,  the  tearful  articles 
of  the  royalist  journals,  have  condemned  her  to  ap- 
pear forever  solemn  and  sublime.  It  was  sought  to 
confine  her  youth  between  a  tomb  and  a  cradle.  But 
as  M.  de  Pontmartin  so  finely  remarks :  "  At  the  end 
of  two  or  three  years  her  true  nature  appears  beneath 
this  artificial  drapery.  Amusements  recommence, 
distractions  abound.  The  Princess  is  no  longer  a 
heroine;  she  is  a  sprite.     The  beach  of  Dieppe  sings 


70  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BEBRT 

her  praises  better,  a  thousand  times  better,  than  the 
chorus  of  courtiers.  She  loves  pleasure,  but  she 
wishes  every  pleasure  to  be  a  grace  or  a  benefit.  She 
creates  a  mine  of  gold  under  the  sand  of  the  Norman 
coast;  she  pacifies  political  rancor  and  soothes  the 
wounds  of  the  grumblers  of  the  Grand  Army.  She 
makes  popular  the  name  of  Bourbon,  which  had 
suffered  from  so  much  ingratitude.  The  Petit-Cha- 
teau, as  her  delightful  household  was  called,  renews 
the  elegant  manners,  the  exquisite  gallantries  of  the 
court  of  Anne  of  Austria,  and  offers  to  the  romancers 
the  models  of  which  Balzac,  later,  made  so  much  too 
free  use.  There  I  see  our  amiable  Duchess  in  her 
true  element,  not  on  the  kind  of  Sinai  on  which  the 
writers  of  the  white  flag  have  perched  her,  prodigal 
in  their  imitations  of  Bossuet, — between  Jeanne 
d'Arc  and  Jeanne  Hachette,  between  Valentine  de 
Milan  and  the  Widow  of  Malabar." 

To  sum  up,  the  Duchess  of  Berry  was  to  the  court 
of  Charles  X.  what  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy  was  to 
that  of  Louis  XIV.  Her  lovely  youth  brightened 
everything.  Let  us  do  her  this  justice:  despite  a 
character  in  appearance  frivolous,  she  carried  to  a 
kind  of  fanaticism  the  love  of  France  and  passion  for 
French  glory.  There  was  one  thing  that  the  gracious 
widow  took  very  seriously,  — the  rights  of  her  son. 
She  would  have  risked  a  thousand  deaths  to  defend 
that  child,  who  represented  in  her  heart  the  cause  of 
the  fatherland.  Where  he  was  concerned  there  was 
in  the  attitude  of  this  frail  young  woman  something 


MADAME  71 

firm  and  decided.  To  a  sagacious  observer,  the 
amazon  was  already  manifest  under  the  lady  of 
society.  She  was  like  those  officers  who  shine 
equally  at  the  ball  and  on  the  field  of  battle.  Rec- 
ognizing in  her  more  than  one  imperfection,  she 
cannot  be  denied  either  courage,  or  intelligence,  or 
heart.  By  her  qualities  as  by  her  defects  she  was  of 
the  race  of  Henry  IV.  But  she  was  more  frank  and 
more  grateful  than  the  Bdarnais.  Doubtless  she  did 
not  have  the  genius,  the  prodigious  ability,  the  fine 
and  profound  political  sense,  of  that  great  man;  but 
her  nature  was  better,  her  generosity  greater,  her 
character  more  sympathetic. 


VIII 

THE  ORLEANS   FAMILY 

AT  the  accession  of  Charles  X.,  Louis  Philippe, 
Duke  of  Orleans,  chief  of  the  younger  branch 
of  the  Bourbons,  born  at  Paris,  October  6th,  1773, 
was  not  yet  fifty-seven  years  old.  He  married  No- 
vember 25th,  1809,  Marie-Am^lie,  Princess  of  the 
Two  Sicilies,  whose  father,  Ferdinand  I.,  reigned  at 
Naples,  and  whose  mother,  the  Queen  Marie-Caro- 
line, sister  of  Marie  Antoinette,  died  at  Venice, 
September  7th,  1814.  Marie- Am^lie,  born  April 
26th,  1782,  was  forty-two  years  old  when  Charles  X. 
ascended  the  tlirone.  Of  her  marriage  with  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  there  were  born  five  sons  and  four 
daughters :  — 

1.  Ferdinand-Philippe-Louis-Charles-Henri-Rou- 
lin,  Duke  of  Chartres,  born  at  Palermo,  September 
3d,  1810.  (When  his  father  became  King,  he  took 
the  title  of  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  died  from  a  fall 
from  his  carriage  going  from  the  Tuileries  to  Neuilly 
on  the  Chemin  de  la  R^volte,  July  13th,  1842.) 

2.  Louise-Marie-Thdrese-Caroline-Elisabeth,  Ma- 
demoiselle d' Orleans,  born  at  Palermo  the  3d  of 
April,  1812.     (She  married  the  King  of  the  Bel- 

72 


THE  ORLEANS  FAMILY  73 

gians,  Leopold  I.,  August  9th,  1832,  and  died  Octo- 
ber 11th,  1850.) 

3.  Marie-Christine-Caroline-Ad^laide  -  Fran9oise- 
L^opoldine,  Mademoiselle  deValois,  born  at  Palermo, 
April  12th,  1813.  (She  was  designated  by  the  name 
of  the  Princess  Marie,  distinguished  herself  in  the 
arts,  made  the  famous  statue  of  Jeanne  d'Arc,  mar- 
ried October  17th,  1837,  the  Duke  Frederic  William 
of  Wiirtemberg,  and  died  January  2d,  1839.) 

4.  Louis-Charles-Philippe-Raphael,  Duke  of  Ne- 
mours, born  at  Paris,  October  25tli,  1814. 

5.  Marie-Cl^mentine-Caroline-Ldopoldine,  Made- 
moiselle de  Beaujolais,  born  at  Neuilly  June  3d, 
1817.  (She  was  designated  by  the  name  of  the  Prin- 
cess Clementine,  and  married,  April  20th,  1843,  the 
Prince  August,  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.) 

6.  Fran9ois  -  Ferdinand  -  Philippe  -  Louis  -  Marie, 
Prince  de  Joinville,  born  at  Neuilly,  August  14th, 
1818. 

7.  Charles-Ferdinand-Louis-Philippe-Emmanuel, 
Duke  of  Penthievre,  born  at  Paris,  January  1st, 
1820.     (He  died  July  25th,  1828.) 

8.  Henri  -  Eugene  -  Philippe  -  Louis,  Duke  d'Au- 
male,  born  at  Paris,  January  16th,  1822. 

9.  Antoine-Marie-Philippe-Louis,  Duke  of  Mont- 
pensier,  born  at  Neuilly,  July  5th,  1824. 

The  Duke  of  Orleans  had  a  sister  who  lived  with 
him  at  the  Palais  Royal,  and  was  reputed  to  be  his 
Egeria.  She  was  Louise-Marie-Adelaide-Eugdnie, 
Mademoiselle  d' Orleans,  as  she  was  called  under  the 


74  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

Restoration.  Born  August  23d,  1777,  she  had  been 
educated  by  Madame  de  Genlis,  with  her  brother,  and 
was  said  to  be  attached  to  the  ideas  of  the  Liberal 
party.  (It  was  she  who  in  1830  decided  Louis-Phi- 
lippe to  accept  the  crown,  took  the  name  of  Madame 
Adelaide,  and  died,  unmarried,  some  days  before  the 
revolution  of  the  24th  of  February,  1848.) 

Marie-Am^lie,  Duchess  of  Orleans,  was  the  sister 
of  the  Prince  Royal  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  Ferdinand, 
father  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry,  and  the  niece  was 
very  fond  of  her  aunt.  The  two  Princesses  were 
united  by  other  bonds  than  those  of  blood.  During 
all  her  infancy  the  Duchess  of  Berry  had  lived  with 
her  aunt  at  Palermo  and  Naples.  Both  were  de- 
scended in  direct  line  from  the  great  Empress,  Maria 
Theresa.  Both  had  greatly  loved  the  Queen  Marie- 
Caroline,  of  whom  one  was  the  granddaughter,  the 
other  the  daughter.  Both  professed  great  admiration 
for  the  Martyr-Queen,  Marie  Antoinette,  of  whom 
one  was  the  grand-niece,  the  other  the  niece.  The 
devotion  and  family  feeling  of  the  Duchess  of  Or- 
leans won  every  one's  sympathy  for  her,  and  the 
Duchess  of  Berry  had  a  respectful  attachment  for 
her.  Their  relations  were  as  constant  as  they  were 
friendly.  There  existed  between  the  Palais  Royal 
and  the  Pavilion  de  Marsan,  dwellings  so  near  each 
other,  a  friendship  and  neighborliness  that  left  noth- 
ing to  be  desired. 

The  Duke  of  Bordeaux  and  his  sister,  Mademoi- 
selle, were  very  fund  of  their  little  Orleans  cousins. 


THE  ORLEANS  FAMILY  75 

There  was  a  certain  pleasure  in  thinking  that  the 
Duke  of  Chartres  might  one  day  become  the  husband 
of  Mademoiselle,  This  young  Prince,  already  very 
amiable  and  sympathetic,  was  the  favorite  of  the 
Duchess  of  Berry.  She  said  to  herself  that  he  would 
be  the  son-in-law  of  her  dreams.  Every  time  that  she 
went  to  the  Palais  Royal,  where  her  visits  were  inces- 
sant, she  was  received  with  transports  of  affection. 
Nowhere  did  she  enjoy  herself  more.  Louis-Philippe 
treated  her  with  deference  and  courtesy.  She  be- 
lieved sincerely  in  his  friendship,  and  any  one  who 
had  shown  in  her  presence  the  least  doubt  of  the 
loyalty  of  her  aunt's  husband  Avould  not  have  ven- 
tured to  complete  the  phrase  expressing  it.  The 
Duchess  of  Berry  was  to  preserve  this  confidence 
until  the  Revolution  of  1830. 

Charles  X.  had  a  kindly  feeling,  founded  on  very 
real  sympathy,  for  the  Duke  of  Orleans  and  all  his 
family.  During  the  Emigration,  as  under  the  reign 
of  Louis  XVIIL,  he  had  always  maintained  very  cor- 
dial relations  with  the  Duke,  and  had  tried  to  efface 
the  bad  memories  of  Philippe  Egalit^.  Charles  X. 
was  as  confiding  as  Louis  XVIII.  was  distrustful. 
Optimist,  like  all  good  natures,  the  new  King  would 
not  believe  evil.  He  attributed  to  others  his  own 
good  qualities.  Louis  XVIII.  always  had  suspicions 
as  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  "Since  his  return,"  he 
said,  in  1821,  "  the  Duke  of  Orleans  is  the  chief  of  a 
party  without  seeming  to  be.  His  name  is  a  threat- 
ening flag,  his  palace  a  rallying-place.    He  makes  no 


76  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRT 

stir,  but  I  can  see  that  he  makes  progress.  This  ac- 
tivity without  movement  is  disquieting.  How 
can  you  undertake  to  check  the  march  of  a  man  who 
makes  no  step?"  Every  time  the  Duke  attempted 
to  bring  up  the  question  of  exchanging  his  title  of 
Most  Serene  Highness  for  that  of  Royal  Highness, 
the  King  stubbornlj^  resisted.  "  The  Duke  of  Orleans 
is  quite  near  enough  to  the  throne  already,"  he  re- 
plied to  all  solicitations.  "  I  shall  be  careful  to  bring 
him  no  nearer." 

This  refusal  was  very  depressing  to  the  Duke. 
One  circumstance  rendered  it  still  more  annoying. 
As  a  king's  daughter,  his  wife  was  a  Royal  High- 
ness. By  this  title  she  enjoyed  honors  denied  to  her 
husband.  When  she  was  present  at  court  with  him 
she  was  first  announced,  both  doors  of  the  salon 
being  opened:  "Her  Royal  Highness,  Madame  the 
Duchess  of  Orleans."  Then  one  door  having  been 
closed,  the  usher  announced:  "His  Most  Serene 
Highness,  Monseigneur  the  Duke  of  Orleans." 
This  distinction  was  very  disagreeable  to  the  Duke. 
Charles  X.  hastened  to  abolish  it.  September  21st, 
1824,  he  accorded  the  title  of  Royal  Highness  to  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  and  three  days  later  he  conferred 
this  title,  so  much  desired,  on  the  children  of  the 
sister  of  the  Duke.  The  latter  showed  his  great 
pleasure.  Though  he  might  favor  liberalism  and 
give  pledges  to  democracy,  he  remained  a  Prince  to 
the  marrow  of  his  bones.  He  loved  not  only  money, 
but  honors,  and  attached  extreme  importance  to  ques- 


THE  OBLEANS  FAMILY  17 

tions  of  etiquette.  The  memories  of  his  childhood 
and  his  early  youth  bound  him  to  the  old  regime 
and  despite  appearances  to  the  contrary,  this  Prince, 
so  dear  to  the  bourgeois  and  to  the  National  Guard, 
was  always  by  his  tastes  and  aspirations  a  man  of 
Versailles. 

Charles  X.  would  gladly  have  said  to  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  as  Augustus  to  Cinna,  speaking  of  his  ben- 
efits :  — 

"  Je  t'en  avals  comble,  je  t'en  veux  accabler." 

He  was  not  content  with  according  him  a  title  of 
honor;  he  gave  him  something  much  more  solid, 
by  causing  to  be  returned  to  him,  with  the  consent 
of  the  Chambers,  the  former  domain  and  privileges 
of  the  House  of  Orleans.  This  was  not  easy.  It 
required  not  only  the  good-will  of  the  Chateau,  but 
the  vote  of  the  Chambers,  and  the  majority  was 
hardly  favorable  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  of  whom  it 
cherished  the  same  suspicions  as  Louis  XVIII.  The 
Duchess  of  Berry  pleaded  warmly  the  cause  of  her 
aunt's  husband,  and  conspired  with  Charles  X. 
against  the  Right,  the  members  of  which  in  this 
case  believed  it  a  service  to  royalty  to  disobey  the 
King.  The  opposition  to  the  project  seemed  likely 
to  be  so  strong,  that  the  government  was  obliged  to 
commit  a  sort  of  moral  violence  upon  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies.  The  King  directed  his  ministers  to  join 
in  some  way  the  question  of  the  apanages  of  the 
House  of  Orleans  with  the  disposition  of  his  own 
civil  list.      The  Kinii  thouo-ht  that  the  sentiments  of 


78  TUE  BUCUESS  OF  BERRY 

the  Chamber  for  himself  and  his  family  would  make 
them  adopt  the  whole  e7i  bloc.  It  was  a  device  of  his 
kindliness,  a  sort  of  smuggling  in  the  King's  coach, 
as  was  said  by  M.  de  Labourdonnaye.  A  large  num- 
ber of  deputies  demanded  a  division  of  the  question. 
The  ministers  had  to  make  great  efforts  and  mount 
the  tribune  many  times  to  defend  the  measure,  which 
passed  only  by  a  very  feeble  majority.  The  Duke 
of  Orleans,  now  at  the  very  height  of  his  desires, 
thanked  Charles  X.  with  effusion. 

Nor  was  this  all ;  from  the  millions  of  indemnity 
to  the  SmigrSs^  the  Duke  of  Orleans  drew  14,000,- 
000  francs.  The  opposition  chiefs  of  the  Left  imi- 
tated the  Prince  and  profited  largely  by  the  law  that 
they  had  opposed  and  condemned.  The  Duke  of 
Choiseul  obtained  1,100,000  francs,  the  Duke  of  La 
Rochefoucauld-Liancourt  1,400,000  francs,  M.  Ga^- 
tan  de  La  Rochefoucauld  1,429,000  francs,  General 
Lafayette  himself  1,450,000  francs. 

The  Orleanist  party  was  already  beginning  to  take 
form,  perhaps  without  the  knowledge  of  its  chief. 
In  his  pamphlets  of  1824,  Paul-Louis  Courier  de- 
voted himself  to  separating  the  older  from  the 
younger  branch  of  the  House,  declaring  that  he 
should  like  to  be  a  resident  of  a  commune  of  Paris 
if  the  Duke  of  Orleans  were  its  mayor,  for  from  a 
Prince  the  Duke  had  become  a  man  during  the  Emi- 
gration, and  had  never  begged  bread  of  a  foreign 
hand.  Louis-Philippe  continued  prudently  the  r61e 
he  had  played  at  the  end  of  tJie  first  Restoration  and 


THE  ORLEANS  FAMILY  79 

during  the  Hundred  Days.  While  professing  an 
obsequious  and  enthusiastic  respect  for  Charles  X., 
he  secretly  flattered  the  Bonapartists  and  the  Lib- 
erals. He  sent  his  eldest  son  to  the  public  school, 
as  if  to  insinuate  that  he  remained  faithful  to  the 
ideas  of  equality  from  which  his  father  had  gained 
his  surname.  He  made  very  welcome  the  coryphdes 
of  the  Opposition,  such  as  General  Foy  and  M.  Laf- 
fitte,  to  the  Palais  Royal,  and  received  them  in  halls 
where  the  brush  of  Horace  Vernet  had  represented 
the  great  battles  of  the  tricolor  flag.  When  General 
Foy  died,  in  November,  1825,  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
put  his  name  for  ten  thousand  francs  to  the  subscrip- 
tion opened  to  provide  a  fund  for  the  children  of  the 
General.  Some  friendly  representations  were  made 
from  the  Chateau  to  the  Palais  Royal  on  this  matter. 
It  was  answered  that  the  Duke  of  Orleans  had  sub- 
scribed not  as  Prince,  but  as  a  friend,  and  in  private 
called  attention  to  the  modesty  of  the  gift  compared 
with  others,  with  that  of  M.  Casimir  Pdrier,  for 
example,  which  amounted  to  fifty  thousand  francs. 
This  excuse  was  satisfactory  at  the  Tuileries. 

Is  this  saying  that  Louis-Philippe  was  already  at 
this  time  thinking  of  dethroning  his  benefactor,  his 
relative,  and  his  King?  We  think  not.  He  profited 
by  the  errors  of  Charles  X. ;  but  if  Charles  X.  had 
not  committed  them,  the  idea  of  usurpation  would 
not  have  occurred  to  the  mind  of  the  chief  of  the 
younger  branch.  Men  are  not  so  profoundly  good 
or  so  profoundly  wicked.     They  let  themselves  be 


80  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEREY 

carried  further  than  they  wish,  and  if  the  acts  they 
are  to  commit  some  day  were  foretold  them,  the 
prophecies  would  most  often  seem  to  them  as  impos- 
sible as  insulting. 

Madame  de  Gontaut,  Governess  of  the  Children 
of  France,  recounts  an  incident  that  took  place  at  the 
Louvre,  December  22d,  1824,  at  the  opening  of  the 
session  of  the  Chambers :  "  The  crowd  was  prodigious. 
The  Dauphiness  and  the  Duchess  of  Berry  and  Made- 
moiselle d' Orleans  were  present  in  one  of  the  bays. 
The  Children  of  France  were  there.  The  Duchess 
of  Berry  took  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  by  her  side. 
The  Duchess  of  Orleans  called  Mademoiselle,  whom 
she  loved  tenderly,  to  her.  The  canon  announced 
the  approach  of  the  King.  At  the  moment  of  his  ap- 
pearance the  hall  resounded  with  acclamations.  The 
platform  for  the  royal  family  was  the  one  prepared 
for  the  late  King;  there  had  been  left  a  slight  eleva- 
tion in  it,  that  the  King  did  not  see,  and  he  stumbled 
on  it.  With  the  movement  his  hat,  held  on  his  arm, 
fell ;  the  Duke  of  Orleans  caught  it.  The  Duchess 
of  Orleans  said  to  me :  — 

'"The  King  was  about  to  fall;  my  husband  sus- 
tained him. ' 

"I  answered:  'No,  Madame;  Monseigneur  has 
caught  His  Majesty's  hat.' 

"  The  Dauphiness  turned  and  looked  at  me.  We 
did  not  speak  of  it  until  six  months  after.  Neither 
of  us  had  forgotten  it." 

A  few  years  more  and  Charles  X.  was  to  drop,  not 
his  hat,  but  his  crown. 


IX 

THE  PRINCE   OF    CONDE 

AT  the  time  of  the  accession  of  Charles  X.,  the 
famil}'-  of  Gondii  was  represented  only  by  an 
old  man  of  sixty-eight,  Louis-Henri-Joseph  de  Boiir- 
bon-Cond^,  born  April  13th,  1756.  At  the  death  of 
his  father  in  1818,  he  had  taken  the  title  of  Prince 
of  Cond<?,  while  retaining  that  of  Duke  of  Bourbon, 
by  which  he  had  previously  been  designated.  On  the 
10th  of  January,  1822,  he  lost  his  wife,  Princess 
Louise-Marie-Th^rese-Bathilde,  sister  of  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  mother  of  the  unfortunate  Duke  d'En- 
ghien,  and  he  lost,  on  March  10th,  1824,  his  sister. 
Mademoiselle  de  Cond^,  the  nun  whose  convent  of 
the  Perpetual  Adoration  was  situated  in  the  Temple 
near  the  site  of  the  former  tower  where  Louis  XVI. 
and  his  family  had  been  confined. 

The  Duke  of  Bourbon,  in  his  youth,  had  had 
a  famous  duel  with  the  Count  of  Artois,  the  future 
Charles  X.  No  resentment  subsisted  between  the 
two  princes,  who  afterwards  maintained  the  most 
cordial  relations.  During  the  Emigration,  the  Duke 
of  Bourbon  served  with  valor  in  tlie  army  of  his 
father,  the  Prince  of  Cond^.     While  the  white  flag 

81 


82  THE  DUCnESS   OF  BEBBY 

floated  at  the  head  of  a  regiment  he  was  found  fight- 
ing for  the  royal  cause ;  then,  the  struggle  ended,  he 
retired  to  England,  where  he  had  lived  near  Louis 
XVIII.,  and  always  at  his  disposition.  Returning 
to  France  at  the  Restoration,  he  had  since  resided 
almost  always  at  Chantilly  or  at  Saint-Leu,  without 
his  wife,  from  whom  he  had  long  been  separated. 
He  was  ranked  as  a  reactionary,  but  busied  himself 
little  with  politics,  and  exerted  no  influence. 

The  Count  of  Puymaigre,  who,  in  his  office  as 
Prefect  of  the  Oise,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
reign  of  Charles  X.,  often  went  to  Chantilly,  speaks 
of  him  in  his  Souvenirs :  — 

"  The  name  of  my  father,  much  beloved  by  the  late 
Prince  of  Cond^,  more  than  my  title  of  Prefect, 
caused  me  to  be  received  with  welcome,  and  I  took 
advantage  of  it  the  more  gladly,  because  I  have  never 
seen  a  house  where  one  was  more  at  one's  ease,  and 
where  there  was  more  of  that  comfortable  life  known 
before  the  Revolution  as  the  chateau  life.  There 
was  little  of  the  prince  in  him;  he  was  more  like  an 
elderly  bachelor  who  liked  to  have  about  him  joy, 
movement,  pleasure,  a  wholly  Epicurean  life.  The 
society  of  Chantilly  ordinarily  consisted  of  the  house- 
hold of  the  Prince ;  that  is  to  say,  old  servitors  of  his 
father,  some  ladies  whose  husbands  held  at  this  little 
court  the  places  of  equerries  or  gentlemen  of  the 
chamber,  some  persons  who  were  invited,  or  like 
myself,  had  the  right  to  come  when  they  wished,  and 
among  this  number  I  frequently  saw  the  Prince  of 


THE  PRINCE  OF  CONBE  83 

Rohau,  relative  of  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  disappointed 
since  of  the  portion  of  the  inheritance  he  hoped  for ; 
finally,  some  Englishmen  and  their  wives.  The  tone 
was  quite  free,  since  the  Prince  set  the  example. 
And  I  recall  that  one  day  he  recommended  me  to  be 
gallant  with  one  of  the  English  ladies,  who,  he  said, 
would  like  nothing  better  than  to  receive  such  atten- 
tions. That  seemed  very  likely  to  me,  but  she  was 
not  young  enough  to  tempt  me  to  carry  the  adventure 
very  far." 

The  real  chatelaine  of  this  little  court  of  Chantilly 
was  a  beautiful  Englishwoman,  Sophie  Dawes,  mar- 
ried to  a  French  officer,  the  Baron  of  Feucheres. 
Born  about  1795,  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  Sophie  Dawes 
was  the  daughter  of  a  fisherman.  It  is  said  that  she 
was  brought  up  by  charity,  and  played  for  some  time 
at  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  London.  But  her  early 
life  is  unknown,  and  what  is  told  of  it  is  not  trust- 
worthy. In  1817,  she  was  taken  into  the  intimacy 
of  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  and  afterwards  acquired  an 
irresistible  ascendancy  over  him.  When  she  became 
his  inseparable  companion,  she  explained  her  pres- 
ence with  him  by  the  story  that  she  was  his  natural 
daughter,  and  the  Duke  avoided  confirming  or  deny- 
ing this  assertion.  In  1818,  he  arranged  a  marriage 
between  his  favorite  and  a  very  honorable  officer,  the 
Baron  of  Feucheres,  who  believed,  in  good  faith,  that 
Sophie  Dawes  was  really  the  daughter  of  the  Duke 
of  Bourbon,  and  not  his  mistress.  The  marriage  was 
celebrated  in  England,  but  the  pair  returned  to  Chan- 


84  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

tilly.  The  Baron  of  Feuclieres  figures  in  the  royal 
Almanacs  of  1821,  1822,  1823,  as  lieutenant-colonel, 
gentleman  in  ordinary  to  the  Duke  of  Bourbon, 
Prince  of  Cond^,  but  not  in  the  Almanac  of  1824. 

In  a  very  interesting  work,  the  Vie  de  Charles  X. 
by  the  Abb^  de  V^drenne,  the  reader  will  find :  — 

"  By  the  marriage  of  Sophie  Dawes,  did  the  Duke 
of  Bourbon  wish  to  break  away  from  a  guilty  bond? 
It  is  generally  believed.  As  to  M.  de  Feucheres, 
convinced  that  his  wife  was  the  daughter  of  the 
Prince,  he  had  no  suspicion.  It  was  Sophie  Dawes 
herself  who  enlightened  him,  to  drive  him  away. 
The  effect  of  the  revelation  was  terrible.  M.  de 
Feucheres,  indignant,  quitted  his  wife.  There  no 
longer  remained  about  the  Prince  any  but  the  crea- 
tures of  Madame  de  Feucheres.  Every  one  did  her 
bidding  at  Chantilly,  and  the  Prince  most  of  all." 

The  favorite  sought  to  palliate  her  false  situation 
in  the  eyes  of  society  by  doing  good  with  the  Prince's 
money.  The  Count  of  Puymaigre  relates  that  she 
many  times  took  him  to  the  Hospital  of  Chantilly, 
endowed  by  the  munificence  of  the  great  Cond^,  the 
revenues  of  which  she  wished  to  increase.  He  adds : 
"  I  urged  her  to  this  good  work  as  much  as  I  could ; 
for  good,  by  whatever  hand  done,  endures." 

One  day  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme  asked  him  if 
he  went  often  to  Chantilly. 

"  I  go  there, "  replied  the  Prefect,  "  to  pay  my  court 
to  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  whom  I  have  the  honor  of 
having  in  my  department." 


THE  PBINCE  OF  CONDE  85 

"That  is  very  well,"  responded  the  Dauphiness, 
"but  I  hope  that  Madame  de  Puymaigre  does  not 

go." 

The  grand  passion  of  the  Duke  of  Bourbon  was 

hunting.     The  Prefect  of  the  Oise  says :  — 

"It  was  particularly  during  the  hunts  of  Saint- 
Hubert  that  Chantilly  was  a  charming  abode.  The 
start  was  made  at  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
usually  I  was  in  the  carriage  of  the  Prince  with  the 
everlasting  Madame  de  Feucheres.  The  hunting- 
lodge  was  delightful  and  in  a  most  picturesque  situa- 
tion. There  twenty  or  thirty  persons  met  to  the 
sound  of  horns,  in  the  midst  of  dogs,  horses,  and 
huntsmen.  The  coursing  train  of  the  Prince  was 
finer  and  more  complete  than  that  of  the  King.  A 
splendid  breakfast  was  served  at  the  place  of  rendez- 
vous, built  and  furnished  in  the  Gothic  style  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  and  there  the  chase  began.  Al- 
though I  told  the  Prince  that  I  was  no  hunter,  he 
often  made  me  mount  my  horse  and  accompany  him ; 
but  often  having  enjoyed  the  really  attractive  spec- 
tacle of  the  stag,  driven  by  a  crowd  of  dogs,  which 
launched  themselves  after  him  across  the  waters  of 
a  little  lake,  I  hastened  back  to  the  Gothic  pavilion 
where  the  ladies  and  a  few  men  remained." 
The  Prince  said  one  day  to  the  Prefect :  — 
"Decidedly,  you  do  not  love  hunting." 
"  But  I  might  love  it,  my  lord,  if  I  had  such  an 
outfit." 

"That's  because  you  don't  know  anything  about 


86  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

it,  my  dear  Puymaigre;  when  I  was  in  England, 
hunting  all  alone  in  the  marshes  with  my  dog  Belle, 
I  enjoyed  it  much  more  than  here." 

The  Prefect  thus  concludes  his  description  of  life 
at  Chantilly:  — 

"Dinner  was  at  six  o'clock  in  the  magnificent 
gallery  where  the  souvenirs  of  the  great  Cond^  were 
displayed  in  all  their  pomp,  and  the  eyes  fell  on  fine 
pictures  of  the  battles  of  Rocroy,  Senef,  Fribourg, 
and  Nordlingen,  inspiring  some  regret  for  the  life  led 
by  the  heir  of  so  much  glory.  After  dinner  society 
comedy  was  played  on  a  very  pretty  stage,  where  the 
luxury  of  costumes  was  very  great  and  the  mise-en- 
scene  carefully  attended  to;  and  this  did  not  make 
the  actors  any  better,  although  the  little  plaj'S  were 
tolerable.  But  Madame  de  Feucheres  wishing  to  play 
Alzire  and  to  take  the  principal  part,  which  she  doled 
out  with  sad  monotony,  without  change  of  intona- 
tion from  the  first  line  to  the  last,  and  with  a  strongly 
pronounced  English  accent,  it  was  utterly  ridiculous, 
and  Voltaire  would  have  flown  into  a  fine  passion 
had  he  seen  one  of  his  chefs-d^ceuvres  mangled  in  that 
way.  Who  could  have  told  that  this  poor  Prince, 
who,  if  he  had  neither  the  virtues  nor  the  dignity 
proper  to  his  rank,  was  nevertheless  a  very  good  fel- 
low, would  perish  in  1830,  in  such  a  tragic  manner?  " 

Charles  X.  had  a  long  standing  affection  for  the 
Duke  of  Bourbon.  On  September  21st,  1824,  he 
conferred  on  him  at  the  same  time  as  on  the  Duke  of 
Orleans,  the  title  of  Royal  Highness.     The  last  of 


THE  PRINCE  OF  CONBE  87 

the  Cond^s  was,  besides,  Grand  Master  of  France. 
This  court  function  was  honorary  rather  than  real, 
and  the  Prince  appeared  at  the  Tuileries  only  on  rare 
occasions.  Charles  X.  loved  him  as  a  friend  of  his 
childhood,  a  companion  of  youth  and  exile,  but  he 
had  a  lively  regret  to  see  him  entangled  in  such  rela- 
tions with  the  Baroness  of  Feucheres.  The  advice 
he  gave  him  many  times  to  induce  him  to  break  this 
liaison  was  without  result.  Finally  the  King  said : 
"Let  us  leave  him  alone;  we  only  give  him  pain." 
He  never  went  to  Chantilly,  in  order  not  to  sanc- 
tion by  his  royal  presence  the  kind  of  existence  led 
there  by  his  old  relation;  and  the  Prince  knowing 
the  sentiments  of  his  sovereign,  gave  him  but  few 
invitations,  which  were  always  evaded  under  one 
pretext  or  another. 

People  wondered  at  the  time  who  would  be  the 
heirs  of  the  immense  fortune  of  the  Condds,  whose 
race  was  on  the  point  of  extinction.  The  Prince's 
mother  was  Charlotte-Elisabeth  de  Rohan-Soubise, 
and  the  Rohans  thought  themselves  the  natural  heirs. 
But  such  a  combination  would  not  have  met  the 
views  of  Madame  de  Feuclieres,  who,  not  content 
with  having  got  from  the  Prince  very  considerable 
donations,  counted  on  figuring  largely  in  his  will. 

Nevertheless  she  was  not  without  lively  anxiety  in 
that  regard.  The  Rohans  had  refused  all  compromise 
with  her.  If  they  were  disinherited,  what  would 
they  say?  Would  they  not  attack  the  will  on  the 
ground  of  undue  influence?     Such  was  the  event- 


88  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

uality  against  which  the  prudent  Baroness  intended 
to  guard  herself.  In  consequence  she  conceived  the 
bold  project  of  sheltering  her  own  wealth  under  the 
patronage  of  some  member  of  the  royal  family,  in 
having  him  receive  the  fortune  of  the  old  Prince 
under  a  will  which  at  the  same  time  should  conse- 
crate the  part  to  be  received  by  her,  and  put  it  beyond 
all  contest.  She  would  have  wished  the  old  Prince 
to  choose  his  heir  in  the  elder  branch  of  the  House 
of  Bourbon.  But  the  Duchess  of  Berry,  who  was 
disinterestedness  itself,  declined  any  arrangement  of 
that  nature.  To  the  insinuations  made  to  her  in 
favor  of  her  son,  she  responded :  — 

"  Henri  will  be  King.  The  King  of  France  needs 
nothing." 

She  did  more.  It  is  said  that  to  the  persons  who 
bore  these  advances  to  her,  she  suggested  the  idea  of 
having  the  heritage  of  the  Cond^s  pass  to  the  family 
of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  But  the  thing  was  not 
easy.  It  is  true  that  the  children  of  the  Duke  were, 
by  their  mother,  Bathilde  d' Orleans,  nephews  of  the 
Avife  of  the  Duke  of  Bourbon.  But  this  Prince  had 
led  a  bad  life  with  his  wife,  from  whom  he  had  sepa- 
rated immediately  after  the  birth  of  the  Duke  d'En- 
ghien,  and  the  souvenirs  of  the  Revolution  separated 
him  widely  from  a  family  whose  political  ideas  were 
not  his.  Yet  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Orleans  were 
not  discouraged.  They  entered  on  negotiations  a 
long  time  in  advance  with  the  Baroness  of  Feucheres, 
who  was  in  reality  the  arbiter  of  the  situation.     M. 


THE  PRINCE  OF  CONDE  89 

Nettement  relates  that  the  first  time  that  Marie- 
Am^lie  pronounced  the  name  of  the  Baroness  in  the 
presence  of  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme,  the  daughter 
of  Louis  XVI.  said  to  her:  "What!  you  have  seen 
that  woman!  "  The  Duchess  of  Orleans  responded: 
"What  would  you  have?  I  am  a  mother.  I  have 
a  numerous  family;  I  must  think  before  all  of  the 
interests  of  my  children." 

What  is  certain  is  that  the  Prince  was  induced  to 
be  the  godfather  of  the  Duke  d'Aumale,  born  the  6th 
of  January,  1822,  and  that  was  a  sort  of  prelude  to 
the  will  of  1830. 


THE  COURT 

NOW  let  us  tlu'ow  a  general  glance  over  the 
court  of  the  King,  Charles  X.,  in  1825,  the 
year  of  the  consecration. 

The  civil  household  of  the  King  comprised  six 
distinct  services :  those  of  Grand  Almoner  of  France, 
of  the  Grand  Master  of  France,  of  the  Grand  Cham- 
berlain of  France,  of  the  Grand  Equerry  of  France, 
of  the  Grand  Huntsman  of  France,  and  of  the  Grand 
Master  of  Ceremonies  of  France. 

The  Grand  Almoner  was  the  Cardinal,  Prince  of 
Croy,  Archbishop  of  Rowen ;  the  First  Almoner,  Mgr. 
Frayssinous,  Bishop  of  Hermopolis;  the  confessor  of 
the  King,  the  Abb^  Jocard.  Charles  X.,  this  mon- 
arch, surrounded  by  great  lords,  knelt  before  a  ple- 
beian priest  and  demanded  absolution  for  his  sins. 
There  were,  besides,  in  the  service  of  the  Grand 
Almoner  of  France,  eight  almoners,  eight  chaplains, 
and  eight  pupils  of  the  chapel,  serving  in  turns  of 
four. 

The  function  of  the  Grand  Master  of  France  had 
as  titulary  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  Prince  of  Cond^. 
But  this  Prince  performed  his  duties  only  in  very 
00 


THE  COURT  91 


rare  and  solemn  circumstances.  In  fact,  the  service 
of  the  Grand  Master  of  France  was  directed  by  the 
First  Steward,  the  Count  of  Coss^-Brissac.  There 
were  besides  four  chamberlains  of  the  House,  the 
Count  de  Rothe,  the  Marquis  of  Mondragon,  the 
Count  Mesnard  de  Chousy,  the  Viscount  Hocquart, 
and  several  stewards. 

The  Grand  Chamberlain  of  France  was  the  Prince 
de  Talle3Tand.  He  discharged  his  functions  only 
on  solemn  occasions,  such  as  the  funeral  of  Louis 
XVIII.  and  the  consecration  of  Charles  X.  and  the 
arrival  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry.  In  fact,  the  service 
of  the  Grand  Chamberlain  of  France  was  directed  by 
one  of  the  first  gentlemen  of  the  chamber.  They 
were  four  in  number,  ^ — the  Duke  d'Aumont,  the 
Duke  of  Duras,  the  Duke  of  Blacas,  the  Duke  Charles 
de  Damas,  —  and  performed  their  functions  in  turn 
a  year  each.  Every  four  years  the  King  designated 
those  who  were  to  serve  during  each  of  the  following 
four  years.  Thus,  the  Royal  Almanac  of  1825  has 
this  notice :  — 

First  gentlemen  of  the  chamber:  1825,  the  Duke 
d'Aumont;  1826,  the  Duke  of  Duras;  1827,  the 
Duke  of  Blacas;  1828,  Count  de  Damas  (afterwards 
Duke). 

The  first  chamberlains,  masters  of  the  wardi'obe, 
were  five  in  number:  the  Marquis  de  Boisgelin,  the 
Count  de  Pradel,  the  Count  Curial,  the  Marquis 
d'Avaray,  the  Duke  d'Avaray.  There  were  besides 
thirty-two  gentlemen  of  the  chamber,  without  count- 


92  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

ing  those  that  were  honorary.  To  this  same  service 
belonged  the  readers,  the  first  valets-de-chambre,  the 
ushers  of  the  chamber,  the  musicians  of  the  chamber, 
those  of  the  chapel  and  the  service  of  the  faculty. 
The  entrSes,  a  matter  so  important  in  the  ceremo- 
nies of  courts,  were  also  attached  to  this  service. 

By  virtue  of  royal  regulations  of  November  1st, 
December  31st,  1820,  and  January  23d,  1821,  the 
entrSes  at  the  Chateau  of  the  Tuileries  were  es- 
tablished as  follows:  They  were  divided  in  six 
classes :  the  grand  entrees,  the  first  entries  of  the  Cab- 
inet, the  entrees  of  the  Cabinet,  those  of  the  Hall 
of  the  Throne,  those  of  the  first  salon  preceding  the 
Hall  of  the  Throne,  and  last,  those  of  the  second 
salon. 

The  grand  entries  gave  the  privilege  of  entering 
at  any  time  the  sleeping-room  of  the  King.  They 
belonged  to  the  Grand  Chamberlain,  to  the  first 
chamberlains  —  masters  of  the  wardrobe.  Next  came 
the  first  entries  of  the  Cabinet  (this  was  the  name  of 
the  hall  which,  during  the  reign  of  Napoleon  III., 
was  designated  as  the  Salon  de  Louis  XIV.,  because 
it  contained  a  Gobelins  tapestry  representing  the 
Ambassadors  of  Spain  received  by  the  King).  Per- 
sons who  have  the  first  entries  of  the  Cabinet  have 
the  right  to  enter  there  at  any  time  in  order  to  have 
themselves  announced  to  the  King,  and  there  to 
await  permission  to  enter  the  main  apartment. 
These  first  entries  of  the  Cabinet  belong  to  those 
who  have  to  take  the  orders  of  the  sovereign  —  to 


THE  COURT  93 


the  grand  officers  of  his  civil  and  military  house- 
holds, or,  in  their  absence,  to  the  first  officer  of  each 
service,  to  the  major-general  of  the  royal  guard  on 
service,  to  the  Grand  Chancellor,  to  the  minister- 
secretaries  of  State,  to  the  Grand  Chancellor  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  to  the  captains  of  the  King's  body- 
guard, to  the  Grand  Quartermaster. 

Next  come  the  entrees  of  the  Cabinet  (which  must 
not  be  confused  with  the  first  entries  of  the  Cabinet). 
These  give  to  persons  enjoying  them  the  right  to 
enter  that  room  usually  a  little  before  the  hour  fixed 
by  the  King  to  hear  Mass,  and  to  remain  there  at  will 
during  the  day,  up  to  the  hour  of  the  evening  when 
the  sovereign  gives  out  the  watchword.  They  belong 
to  the  grand  officers  and  to  the  first  officers  of  the 
civil  and  military  households  of  the  King,  to  the 
major-generals  of  the  ro3'al  guard  and  the  lieutenant- 
general  in  service,  to  the  cardinals,  to  the  Chancellor 
of  France,  to  the  minister-secretaries  of  State,  to  the 
Grand  Chancellor  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,  to  the 
marshals  of  France,  to  the  Grand  Referendary  of 
the  Chamber  of  Peers,  to  the  President  of  tlie  Cliam- 
ber  of  Deputies,  and  to  all  the  officers  of  the  King's 
household  on  service. 

The  persons  and  functionaries  civil  or  military 
with  a  lower  rank  in  the  hierarchy  of  the  court  have 
their  entrSes^  some  to  the  Hall  of  the  Throne,  others 
to  the  first  salon  preceding  the  Hall  of  the  Throne 
(the  Salon  d'Apollon  under  Napoleon  III.),  and  still 
others  to  the  second  salon  (communicating  with  the 


94  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

Hall  of  the  Marshals,  and  called,  under  Napoleon 
III.,  the  Salon  of  the  First  Consul). 

The  collective  audience  given  to  all  having  their 
entrSes  was  called  the  public  audience  of  the  King. 
It  took  place  when  the  King  went  to  hear  Mass  in 
his  chapel,  only  on  his  return  to  re-enter  his  inner 
apartment.  Followed  by  all  his  grand  officers  and 
his  first  officers  in  service,  Charles  X.  passed  to 
and  paused  in  each  of  the  rooms  in  his  outer  apart- 
ment, in  order  to  allow  those  having  the  right  to  be 
there  to  pay  their  court  to  him.  When  he  attended 
Mass  in  his  inner  apartment,  he  gave  a  public  au- 
dience only  after  that  ceremony.  He  paused  in  his 
Grand  Cabinet,  then  in  the  Hall  of  the  Throne,  and 
successively  in  the  other  rooms. 

When  the  King  was  ready  to  receive,  the  First 
Gentleman  of  the  Chamber  gave  notice  to  the  grand 
officers  and  the  first  officers  that  they  might  present 
themselves.  Moreover,  he  placed  before  the  King  the 
list  of  persons  having  entrSes  to  his  apartments  or  to 
whom  he  had  accorded  them.  On  this  list  Charles 
X.  indicated  those  he  wished  invited. 

There  was  no  titular  Grand  Equerry  of  France. 
The  First  Equerry,  charged  with  the  saddle-horses 
of  the  King,  was  the  Duke  of  Polignac,  major- 
general.  The  two  equerries-commandant  were  the 
Marquis  of  Vernon  and  Count  O'H^gerthy,  major- 
general.  There  were,  besides,  four  equerries,  mas- 
ters of  the  horse,  three  each  quarter,  namely :  for  the 
January  quarter   the    Chevalier   de  Riviere,  major- 


THE  COURT  95 


general;  the  Count  Defrance,  lieutenant-general; 
the  Baron  Dujon,  major-general;  —  for  the  April 
quarter,  the  Colonel  Viscount  de  Bongars ;  the  Baron 
Vincent,  major-general;  the  Viscount  Domon,  lieu- 
tenant-general;—  for  the  July  quarter,  the  Colonel 
Marquis  de  Martel,  the  Viscount  Vansay,  the  Count 
Frederic  de  Bongars; — for  the  October  quarter,  the 
Count  de  Fezensac,  major-general ;  the  Colonel  Mar- 
quis Oudinot,  the  Colonel  Marquis  de  Chabannes. 
The  chief  Equerries  of  the  stable  were  the  Viscount 
d'Abzac  and  the  Chevalier  d'Abzac,  both  colonels. 
There  were,  besides,  the  equerries  in  ordinary  and 
the  pupil-equerries.  The  pages  belonged  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Grand  Equerry  of  France. 

The  Grand  Huntsman  was  the  Marshal  Marquis  of 
Lauriston,  and  the  First  Huntsman,  the  Lieutenant- 
General  Count  de  Girardin.  There  were  also  hunts- 
men for  the  hunting-courses  and  huntsmen  for  the 
gunning-hunts  of  the  King. 

The  Grand  Master  of  Ceremonies  was  the  Marquis 
of  Dreux-Br^z^,  and  the  Master  of  Ceremonies  the 
Marquis  of  Rochemore,  major-general.  There  were, 
besides,  the  aides,  a  king-at-arms  and  heralds-at- 
arms. 

All  the  civil  household  of  the  King  worked  with 
the  greatest  regularity.  Etiquette,  carefully  ob- 
served, though  stripped  of  the  ancient  minutiae,  re- 
called the  old  usages  of  the  French  monarchy.  All 
that  had  been  suppressed  was  what  was  puerile  and 
weariness  for  the  courtiers  and  for  the  King  himself. 


96  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

The  military  household  of  the  King  was  a  group 
of  chosen  troops.  The  horse  body-guards  comprised 
five  companies,  each  bearing  the  name  of  its  chief. 
The  Duke  d'Havr^  et  de  Croy,  the  Duke  of  Gramont, 
the  Prince  of  Poix,  Duke  de  Mouchy,  the  Duke  of 
Luxembourg,  the  Marquis  de  Riviere.  The  chiefs 
of  these  companies,  all  five  lieutenants-general,  were 
entitled  captains  of  the  guard.  There  was,  besides, 
a  company  of  foot-guards  in  ordinary  to  the  King, 
whose  chief,  the  Duke  of  Mortemart,  major-general, 
had  the  title  of  captain-colonel,  and  whose  officers 
were  some  French,  some  Swiss.  There  was  a  Chief 
Quartermaster,  the  Lieutenant-General  Marquis  de 
La  Suze. 

The  royal  guard,  composed  of  two  divisions  of  in- 
fantry, two  divisions  of  cavalry,  and  a  regiment  of 
artillery,  was  under  the  command  of  four  marshals 
of  France,  Victor,  Duke  de  Bellune;  Macdonald, 
Duke  de  Tarente;  Oudinot,  Duke  de  Reggio;  Mar- 
mont,  Duke  de  Raguse,  all  four  of  whom  had  the 
title  of  major-general. 

The  body-guards,  the  Swiss,  the  royal  guard,  were 
the  admiration  of  all  connoisseurs.  The  Emperor 
Napoleon  never  had  had  troops  better  disciplined,  of 
better  bearing,  clad  in  finer  uniforms,  animated  by  a 
better  spirit. 

To  the  household  of  the  King  must  be  added  those 
of  the  Dauphin,  the  Dauphiness,  and  the  Duchess  of 
Berry.  The  Dauphin  had  as  first  gentlemen,  the 
Duke  of  Damas  and  the  Duke  of  Guiche,  both  lieu- 


THE  COURT  97 


tenants-general;  for  gentlemen,  the  Count  d'Escars 
and  the  Baron  of  Damas,  lieutenants-general;  the 
Count  Melchior  de  Polignac,  major-general ;  the  Vis- 
count de  Saint  Priest,  and  the  Count  de  Bordesoulle, 
lieutenants-general;  the  Count  d' Osmond,  lieuten- 
ant-colonel. For  aides-de-camp,  the  Baron  de  Beur- 
nonville  and  the  Count  de  Laroche-Fontenille, 
major-generals;  the  Viscount  of  Champagny,  the 
Count  of  Montcalm,  and  the  Baron  Lecouteulx  de 
Canteleu,  colonels ;  the  Viscount  de  Lahitte,  and  the 
Duke  de  Ventadour,  lieutenant-colonels;  the  Count 
de  La  Rochefoucauld,  chief  of  battalion. 

The  household  of  the  Dauphiness  was  composed 
as  follows :  a  First  Almoner,  the  Cardinal  de  La 
Fare,  Archbishop  of  Sens,  with  two  almoners  serving 
semiannually,  and  a  chaplain;  a  lady-of-honor,  the 
Duchess  of  Damas-Cruz ;  a  lady  of  the  bed  chamber, 
the  Viscountess  d'Agoult;  seven  lady  companions, 
the  Countess  of  B^arn,  the  Marchioness  of  Biron,  the 
Marchioness  of  Sainte-Maure,  the  Viscountess  of 
Vaudreuil,  the  Countess  of  Goyon,  the  Marchioness 
de  Roug^,  the  Countess  of  Villefranche ;  two  gentle- 
men-in-waiting, the  Marquis  of  Vibra3^e  and  the 
Duke  Mathieu  de  Montmorency,  major-general;  a 
First  Equerry,  the  Viscount  d'Agoult,  lieutenant- 
general,  and  two  equerries,  the  Chevalier  de  Beaune 
and  M.  0'H(^gerthy. 

We  shall  devote  a  special  chapter  to  the  household 
of  the  Duchess  of  Berry. 

The  Count  Alexandre  de  Puymaigre  has  left  in 


98  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

his  Souvenirs  an  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
court  employed  the  two  weeks  passed  at  CompiSgne 
in  the  month  of  October  of  each  year.  At  8  a.m., 
the  King  heard  Mass,  where  attendance  was  very 
exact  except  when  the  King  omitted  to  come,  when 
no  one  came.  At  nine  o'clock  they  set  out  for  the 
hunt,  almost  always  with  guns.  One  hundred  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  hussars  or  chasseurs  of  the  guard  in 
garrison  at  Compi^gne  beat  the  field,  marching  in 
line  of  battle,  with  the  King  in  the  middle :  he  had 
at  his  right  the  Dauphin,  at  his  left  a  captain  of  the 
guards,  or  such  person  of  the  court  as  he  was  pleased 
to  designate.  These  were  the  three  who  alone  had 
the  right  to  fire. 

Behind  the  sovereign,  apart  from  some  persons 
connected  with  the  service  of  the  hunt,  came  a  master 
of  the  horse,  the  first  huntsman,  and  some  persons 
admitted  to  the  hunt.  The  King,  who  used  a  flint- 
lock gun,  was  a  very  good  marksman.  About  five 
or  six  in  the  evening  he  returned  to  the  Chateau. 
The  people  of  the  CQurt  were  gathered  on  the  steps, 
awaiting  him.  He  usually  addressed  some  affable 
words  to  them,  and  then  went  to  dress  in  order  to  be 
in  the  salon  at  seven  o'clock. 

The  captain  of  the  guards,  the  first  gentleman,  the 
first  huntsman,  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  in  waiting 
of  the  princesses,  the  masters  of  the  horse,  the  colonel 
of  the  guard,  dined  with  the  King.  The  dinner  was 
choice,  without  being  too  sumptuous,  but  the  wines 
were  not  of  the  first  order.     The  company  remained  at 


THE  COURT  99 


the  table  an  hour,  and  each  talked  freely  with  his  or 
her  neighbor,  except  those  by  the  side  of  the  Dauphin 
or  a  Princess.  There  was  music  during  the  repast, 
and  the  public  was  admitted  to  circulate  about  the 
table.  The  royal  family  liked  the  attendance  of 
spectators  to  be  considerable.  Thus  care  was  taken 
to  give  out  a  number  of  cards,  in  order  that  the  prom- 
enade about  the  table  during  the  second  service 
should  be  continuous.  Often  the  princesses  spoke  to 
the  women  of  their  acquaintance  and  gave  candy  to 
the  children  passing  behind  them. 

After  the  coffee,  which  was  taken  at  table,  Charles 
X.  and  his  guests  traversed  the  Gallery  of  Mirrors, 
leading  to  the  salon  between  two  lines  of  spectators 
eager  to  see  the  royal  family.  The  King  next  played 
billiards  while  a  game  of  ^cart^  was  started.  The 
agents  for  the  preservation  of  the  forests  and  the 
pages  of  the  hunt  remained  by  the  door,  inside, 
without  being  permitted  to  advance  into  the  salon, 
which  was  occupied  only  by  persons  who  had  dined 
with  the  King. 

After  having  had  his  game  of  billiards  and  left 
his  place  for  other  players,  Charles  X.  took  a  hand 
at  whist,  while  the  ^cart^  went  on  steadily  until, 
toward  ten  o'clock,  the  King  retired.  He  was  fol- 
lowed to  his  sleeping-room,  where  he  gave  the  watch- 
word to  the  captain  of  the  bodj^-guards,  and  indicated 
the  hour  of  the  meet  for  the  next  day. 

"Sometimes  we  then  returned  to  the  salon,"  adds 
the  Count  of  Puymaigre,  who,  in  virtue  of  his  office 


100  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

as  Prefect  of  the  Oise,  dined  with  the  King,  as  well  as 
the  Bishop  of  Beauvais  and  the  general  commanding 
the  sub-division.  "M.  de  Coss^-Brisac,  the  first 
steward,  had  punch  served,  and  we  continued  the 
^cart^  till  midnight  or  one  o'clock,  when  we  could 
play  more  liberally,  the  Dauphiness  having  limited 
the  stakes  to  five  francs.  The  Duchess  of  Berry 
was  less  scrupulous.  After  the  withdrawal  of  the 
princes  we  were  glad  to  be  more  at  ease;  the  talk 
became  gay  and  even  licentious,  and  I  will  sa}'^  here 
that  all  the  men  of  the  court  whom  I  have  seen  near 
the  King,  far  from  being  what  could  be  called  devout 
or  hypocritical,  as  was  believed  in  the  provinces, 
were  an^-thing  but  that;  that  they  no  more  con- 
cealed their  indifference  in  religious  matters  than 
they  did  their  diversity  of  political  opinions,  royalist 
doubtless,  but  of  divers  grades ;  that  no  one  was  more 
tolerant  than  the  King;  finally,  that  if  an  occult 
power,  the  existence  of  which  I  do  not  deny,  but  the 
force  of  which  has  been  exaggerated,  acted  on  the 
mind  of  the  King,  it  had  not  its  seat  in  what  was 
called  the  court." 

Charles  X.  was  deeply  religious,  a  fervent  believer, 
sincerely  Christian,  and  this  Prince  who  but  for  his 
great  piety  might  perhaps  have  given  excuse  for 
scandal,  led  a  life  without  reproach.  But  as  indul- 
gent for  others  as  he  was  severe  to  himself,  he  forced 
no  one  to  imitate  his  virtues,  and  his  palaces  were  in. 
no  way  like  convents.  As  was  said  by  the  Duke 
Ambroise  de  Doudeauville,  for  three  years  the  minis- 


THE  COURT  101 


ter  of  the  King's  houseliold,  "his  religion,  despite 
all  the  stupid  things  said  of  it,  was  very  frank,  very 
real,  and  very  well  understood," 

Rarely  has  a  sovereign  given  such  a  good  example 
to  those  about  him.  No  mistresses,  no  favorites, 
no  scandal,  no  ruinous  expenditures,  no  excess  of 
luxury;  a  gentle  piety,  extreme  affability,  perfect 
courtesy,  a  constant  desire  to  render  France  happy 
and  glorious.  The  appearance  of  Charles  X.  was  that 
of  a  fine  old  man,  gracious,  healthy,  amiable,  and 
respected.  Persons  of  plebeian  origin  at  his  court 
were  treated  by  him  with  as  much  politeness  and  at- 
tention as  the  chiefs  of  the  ancient  houses  of  France. 
His  manners  were  essentially  aristocratic,  but  with- 
out arrogance  or  pretension.  Full  of  goodness 
toward  his  courtiers  and  his  servitors,  he  won  the 
love  of  all  who  approached  him.  His  tastes  were 
simple,  and  personally  he  required  no  luxury.  Ha- 
bituated during  the  Emigration  to  go  without  many 
things,  he  never  thought  of  lavish  expenditure,  of 
building  palaces  or  furnishing  his  residences  richly. 
"Never  did  a  king  so  love  his  people,"  says  the 
Duke  Ambroise  de  Doudeauville,  "never  did  a  king 
carry  self-abnegation  so  far.  I  urged  him  one  day 
to  allow  his  sleeping-room  to  be  furnished.  He  re- 
fused. I  insisted,  telling  him  that  it  was  in  a 
shocking  condition  of  neglect. 

"'If  it  is  for  me,'  he  replied  with  vivacity,  'no;  if 
it  is  for  the  sake  of  the  manufactures,  yes.' 

"It  was   the  same    in   everything.      He   had   no 


102  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

Avliims  and  never  listened  to  a  proposition  by  which 
he  alone  was  to  profit.  He  joined  to  these  essential 
qualities,  manners  that  were  wholly  French,  and 
7)iots  that  often  recalled  Henry  IV.  We  were  always 
saying  to  each  other,  my  colleagues  and  I,  'If  a  king 
were  made  to  order  for  France,  he  would  not  be  dif- 
ferent.'  What  a  misfortune  for  France,  which  he 
loved  so  much,  that  he  was  not  known  better  and 
more  appreciated.  This  portrait,  I  protest,  is  in  no- 
wise flattering;  if  this  poor  Prince  were  still  reign- 
ing, I  would  not  say  so  much  of  him,  above  all  in 
his  presence;  but  he  is  persecuted  and  is  an  exile; 
I  owe  my  country  the  truth,  nothing  but  the  truth." 

Let  us  add  to  the  honor  of  Charles  X.  that  he  made 
of  his  personal  fortune  and  his  civil  list  the  noblest 
and  most  liberal  use. 

"On  the  throne,"  says  the  Viscount  Sosthenes  de 
La  Rochefoucauld,  "he  was  generous  to  excess.  In 
his  noble  improvidence  of  the  future,  he  considered 
his  civil  list  as  a  sort  of  loan,  made  by  the  nation  for 
the  sake  of  its  grandeur,  to  be  returned  in  luxury, 
magnificence,  and  benefits.  A  faitliful  depositary, 
he  made  it  a  duty  to  use  it  all,  so  that,  stripped  of 
his  property,  he  carried  into  exile  hardly  enough  for 
the  support  of  his  family  and  some  old  servitors. " 

To  sum  up,  all  who  figured  at  the  court  of  Charles 
X.  agree  in  recognizing  that  he  was  not  a  superior 
man,  but  a  prince,  chivalrous  and  sympathetic, 
honest  and  of  good  intentions,  who  committed  grave 
errors,  but  did  not  deserve  his  misfortunes.     In  his 


THE  COURT  103 


appearance,  in  his  physiognomy,  in  thought  and  lan- 
guage, there  was  a  mingling  of  grace  and  dignity  of 
which  even  his  adversaries  felt  the  charm.  If  pos- 
terity is  severe  for  the  sovereign,  it  will  be  indulgent 
for  the  man. 


XI 

THE   DUKE  OF   DOUDEAUVILLE 

AT  the  time  of  the  consecration  of  Charles  X., 
the  minister  of  the  King's  household  was  the 
Duke  Amhroise  cle  Doudeauville,  father  of  the  Vis- 
count Sosthenes  de  La  Rochefoucauld.  A  philan- 
thropic nobleman,  devoted  to  the  throne,  the  altar, 
the  Charter,  and  to  liberty,  respectful  for  the  past  but 
thoughtful  for  the  future,  joining  intelligent  tolera- 
tion to  sincere  piety,  faitliful  servitor  but  no  courtier 
to  the  King,  the  Duke  of  Doudeauville  enjoyed  the 
esteem  of  all  and  had  at  court  a  high  standing,  due 
even  more  to  his  character  than  to  his  birth.  The 
volume  of  Memoirs  that  he  has  left  does  honor  to  his 
heart  as  well  as  to  his  mind.  There  is  grace  and 
gaiety,  depth  and  charm,  wisdom  and  courage,  in  this 
short  but  substantial  book,  where  appears  in  full 
light  one  of  the  most  distinct  types  of  the  ancient 
French  society.  "  My  years  of  grandeur  and  splen- 
dor," this  author  wrote,  "have  passed  like  a  dream, 
and  I  have  beheld  the  awakening  with  pleasure.  I 
know  not  what  my  destiny  shall  be.  As  to  my  con- 
duct, I  believe  that  I  can  affirm  that  it  will  be  al- 
ways that  of  an  honest  man,  a  good  Frenchman,  a 
104 


THE  DUKE  OF  DOUDEAVVILLE  105 

servant  of  God,  desiring  a  Clu'istian  close  to  an  hon- 
orable life,  the  crown  of  every  human  edifice." 

The  details  given  by  the  Duke  of  Doudeauville  as 
to  his  early  years  are  very  characteristic.  He  was 
born  in  1765.  He  was  entrusted  to  the  care  of  a 
nurse  living  two  leagues  from  Paris  in  a  little  vil- 
lage, the  wife  of  a  post-rider.  His  parents,  when 
they  came  to  see  him,  found  "  their  eighteen-months- 
old  progeny  astride  of  one  of  the  horses  of  his  foster- 
father."  Like  Henry  IV.,  he  was  raised  roughly, 
leading  the  life  of  a  real  peasant,  running  the  day 
long,  in  sabots,  through  the  snow  and  ice  and  mud. 
"My  nurse,  who  was  retained  as  maid,"  he  says, 
"was  a  good  peasant,  and  thoroughly  proletarian. 
Afterwards,  transferred  to  the  capital,  she  there  pre- 
served with  her  simple  cap  her  frank  and  rustic  man- 
ners, to  the  admiration  of  all  who  knew  her,  and 
esteemed  her  loyal  character  and  her  plain  ways.  It 
is  to  her,  and  to  her  alone,  that  I  am  indebted  for 
receiving  any  religious  instruction  either  in  infancy 
or  youth.  Everything  about  me  was  wholly  foreign 
to  those  ideas ;  my  religion  was  none  the  less  fervent 
for  that.  From  my  earliest  years,  being  born  brave, 
I  felt  the  vocation  of  the  martyr  the  most  desirable 
means  of  being  joined  to  our  Father  which  is  in 
Heaven,  and  I  have  always  thought  that  to  end 
one's  days  for  one's  God,  one's  wife  and  family,  was 
a  touching  and  enviable  death." 

The  Duke  of  Doudeauville  was  still  a  child,  and 
a  little  child  —  in  point  of  age  he  was  fourteen  and 


106  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

a  day,  in  size  he  was  four  feet  seven  inches  —  when 
he  was  married.  He  espoused  Mademoiselle  de 
Montmirail,  of  the  family  of  Louvois,  who  brought 
him,  with  a  beauty  he  did  not  then  prize,  a  consid- 
erable fortune,  the  rank  of  grandee  of  Spain,  and, 
worth  more  than  all,  rare  and  precious  qualities. 
Nevertheless,  the  little  husband  was  very  sad.  When 
his  approaching  marriage  was  announced  to  him,  he 
cried  out,  "Then  I  can  play  no  longer!"  When, 
after  the  first  interview,  he  was  asked  how  he  liked 
his  fiancee,  whose  fresh  face,  oval  and  full,  was 
charming,  he  responded :  "  She  is  really  very  beauti- 
ful; she  looks  like  me  when  I  am  eating  plums." 
Listen  to  his  story  of  the  nuptials.  "Imagine  my 
extreme  embarrassment,"  he  says,  "my  stupid  disap- 
pointment, with  my  excessive  bashfulness  amid  the 
numerous  concourse  of  visitors  and  spectators  at- 
tracted by  our  wedding.  The  grandfather  of  Made- 
moiselle de  Montmirail,  being  captain  of  the  Hun- 
dred-Swiss, a  great  part  of  this  corps  was  there,  and, 
as  if  to  play  me  a  trick,  all  these  Hundred-Swiss 
were  six  feet  tall,  sometimes  more.  One  would  have 
said,  seeing  me  by  the  side  of  them,  the  giants  and 
the  dwarf  of  the  fair.  Every  one  gazed  at  the  bride, 
who,  although  she  was  only  fifteen,  was  as  tall  as  she 
was  beautiful,  and  every  one  was  looking  for  the 
bridegroom,  without  suspecting  that  it  was  this  child, 
this  schoolboy,  who  was  to  play  the  part." 

Is  it  not  amusing,  this  picture  of  a  marriage  under 
the    old   r{}gime?      The    little    groom    was  so  dis- 


THE  DUKE  OF  DOUDEAUVILLE  107 

turbed  when  he  went  to  the  chapel  and  during  the 
ceremony,  that,  though  liis  memory  was  excellent, 
he  never  could  recall  what  passed  at  that  time.  "  I 
only  remember,"  he  says,  "the  sound  of  the  di-ums 
that  were  beating  during  our  passage,  and  cheered 
me  a  little ;  it  was  the  one  moment  of  the  day  that 
was  to  my  taste.  How  long  that  day  seemed!  You 
may  imagine  it  was  not  from  the  motives  common  in 
like  cases,  but  because  I  drew  all  glances  upon  me, 
and  all  vied  in  laughing  at  and  joking  me,  pointing 
their  fingers  at  me." 

The  day  ended  with  a  grand  repast  that  lasted  two 
or  three  hours.  A  crowd  of  strangers  strolled  around 
the  table  all  the  while.  Although  the  precaution  had 
been  taken  to  put  an  enormous  cushion  on  the  chair 
of  the  husband,  his  chin  hardly  came  above  the 
table.  Seated  by  the  side  of  his  young  wife,  he  did 
not  dare  look  at  her.  For  days  beforehand  he  had 
been  wondering  if  he  should  always  be  afraid  of  her. 

"After  this  solemn  banquet,"  he  adds,  "came  the 
soiree,  which  did  not  seem  any  more  amusing;  after 
the  soiree  the  return  to  my  parents'  home  was  no 
more  diverting;  nevertheless,  it  was  made  in  the 
company  of  my  dear  spouse,  who  henceforth  was  to 
dwell  at  my  father's  house.  They  bundled  me  into 
a  wretched  cabriolet  with  my  preceptor,  and  sent  me 
to  finish  my  education  at  Versailles,  and  to  learn  to 
ride  at  the  riding-school  of  the  pages." 

We  must  note  that  the  marriage  thus  begun  was 
afterwards  a  very  happy  union,   and  that  there  was 


108  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

never  a  pair  more  virtuous  and  more  attached  to  each 
other  than  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Doudeauville. 

In  1789,  the  Duke  was  major  of  the  Second  Regi- 
ment of  Chasseurs.  He  emigrated,  though  the  Emi- 
gration was  not  at  all  to  his  liking.  "  This  measure," 
he  said,  "  appeared  to  me  in  every  way  unreasonable, 
and  yet,  to  my  great  chagrin,  I  was  forced  to  submit 
to  it.  The  person  of  the  King  was  menaced,  right- 
thinking  people  compromised,  the  tranquillity  and 
prosperity  of  France  lost;  they  were  arming  abroad, 
it  was  said,  to  provide  a  remedy  for  these  evils.  The 
nobles  hastened  hither.  Distaffs  were  sent  to  all  who 
refused  to  rally  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine.  How,  at 
twenty-five,  could  one  resist  this  tide  of  opinion  ? " 
When  he  perceived,  in  the  foreign  powers,  the  design 
of  profiting  by  the  discords  in  France  instead  of 
putting  an  end  to  them,  he  laid  aside  his  arms,  and 
never  resumed  them  during  the  eight  years  of  the 
Emigration.  "This  resolve,"  he  said,  "was  consist- 
ent with  my  principles.  Always  a  good  Frenchman, 
I  desired  only  the  good  of  my  country,  the  happiness 
of  my  fellow-countrymen;  my  whole  life,  I  hope, 
has  been  a  proof  of  this  view.  All  my  actions  have 
tended  to  this  end." 

During  his  eight  years  of  emigration,  the  Duke  of 
Doudeauville  was  constantly  a  prey  to  anxiety,  grief, 
poverty,  trials  of  every  kind.  Thirteen  of  his  rela- 
tives were  put  to  death  under  the  Terror.  His  wife 
was  imprisoned,  and  escaped  the  scaffold  only  tlu"ough 
the   9th   Thermidor.      He   himself,    having   visited 


THE  DUKE  OF  DOUDEAUVILLE  109 

France  clandestinely  several  times,  ran  the  greatest 
risks.  In  the  midst  of  such  sufferings  his  sole  sup- 
port was  the  assistance  of  a  devoted  servant.  "  At 
the  moment  that  I  write  these  lines,"  he  says  in  his 
Memoirs,  "  I  am  about  to  lose  my  domestic  Raphael, 
the  excellent  man  who,  for  fifty  years,  has  given  me 
such  proofs  of  fidelity,  disinterestedness,  and  deli- 
cacy; I  have  treated  him  as  a  friend;  I  shall  grieve 
for  him  as  for  a  brother." 

Misfortune  had  fortified  the  character  of  the  Duke 
of  Doudeauville.  Unlike  other  SmigrSs,  he  had 
learned  much  and  forgotten  nothing.  His  attitude 
under  the  Consulate  and  the  Empire  was  that  of  a 
true  patriot.  Without  joining  the  Opposition,  he 
wished  no  favor.  The  sole  function  he  accepted  was 
that  of  councillor-general  of  the  Department  of  the 
Marne,  where  he  could  be  useful  to  his  fellow-citi- 
zens without  giving  any  one  the  right  to  accuse  him 
of  ambitious  motives.  Nothing  would  have  been 
easier  for  him  than  to  be  named  to  one  of  the  hisrh 
posts  in  the  court  of  Napoleon,  whose  defects  he 
disapproved,  but  whose  great  qualities  he  admired. 
"Bonaparte,"  he  said  in  his  Memoirs,  "had monarch- 
ical ideas  and  made  much  of  the  nobility,  especiall}'- 
that  Avhich  he  called  historic.  I  must  confess,  what- 
ever may  be  said,  that  the  latter  under  his  reign  was 
more  esteemed,  respected,  feted,  than  it  has  been 
since  under  Louis  XVIII.  or  Charles  X.  The  princes 
feared  to  excite  toward  it  and  toward  themselves  tlie 
envy  of  the  bourgeois  classes,  who  would  have  no 


110  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERBY 

supremacy  but  their  own.  Napoleon,  on  the  con- 
trary, having  frankly  faced  the  difficulty,  created  a 
nobility  of  his  own.  Those  who  belonged  to  it,  or 
hoped  to,  found  it  quite  reasonable  that  they  should 
be  given  as  peers  the  descendants  of  the  first  houses 
of  France."  The  Duchess  of  Doudeauville  was  a 
sister  of  the  Countess  of  Montesquieu,  who  was  gov- 
erness of  the  King  of  Rome,  and  whose  husband 
had  replaced  the  Prince  de  Talleyrand  as  Grand 
Chamberlain  of  the  Emperor.  Very  intimate  with 
the  Count  and  Countess,  the  Duke  of  Doudeauville 
had  some  trouble  in  avoiding  the  favors  of  Napoleon, 
who  held  him  in  high  esteem.  He  found  a  way  to 
decline  them  without  wounding  the  susceptibilities 
of  the  powerful  sovereign. 

Under  the  Restoration,  the  Duke  of  Doudeauville 
distinguished  himself  by  an  honest  liberalism,  loyal 
and  intelligent,  with  nothing  revolutionary  in  it, 
and  by  an  enlightened  philanthropy  that  won  him 
the  respect  of  all  parties.  When  he  was  named  as 
director  of  the  post-office  in  1822,  many  people  of  his 
circle  blamed  him  for  taking  a  place  beneath  him. 
"Congratulate  me,"  he  said,  laughing,  "that  I  have 
not  been  offered  that  of  postman ;  I  should  have  taken 
it  just  the  same  if  I  had  thought  I  could  be  useful." 
And  he  added :  "  It  was  thought  that  it  would  be  a 
sinecure  for  me.  Far  from  that,  I  gave  myself  up 
wholly  to  my  new  employment,  and  I  worked  so  hard 
at  it,  than  in  less  than  a  year  my  eyes,  previously 
excellent,  were  almost  ruined.     I  always  occupied 


THE  DUKE  OF  DOUDEAUVILLE  111 

fifteen  or  twenty  places,  eacli  more  gratuitous  than 
the  others.  To  make  the  religion  that  I  practise  be- 
loved and  to  serve  my  neighbor,  has  always  seemed 
to  me  the  best  way  to  serve  God.  So  I  believe  that 
I  can  say  without  fear  of  contradiction  that  I  have 
never  done  any  one  harm,  and  that  I  have  always 
tried  to  do  all  the  good  possible." 

In  the  month  of  August,  1824,  the  Duke  of  Dou- 
deauville  was  named  minister  of  the  King's  house- 
hold. In  this  post  he  showed  administrative  qualities 
of  a  high  order.  In  April,  1827,  not  wishing  to  share 
in  a  measure  that  he  regarded  as  both  inappropriate 
and  unpopular,  the  disbanding  of  the  Parisian  Na- 
tional Guard,  he  gave  in  his  resignation.  "I  did  not 
wish,"  he  said,  "to  join  the  Opposition.  The  popu- 
larity given  me  by  my  resignation  would  have  assured 
me  a  prominent  place,  but  this  r81e  agreed  neither 
with  my  character  nor  with  my  antecedents.  I  re- 
solved on  absolute  silence  and  complete  obscurity;  I 
even  avoided  showing  myself  in  Paris,  where  I  knew 
that  manifestations  of  satisfaction  and  gratitude 
would  be  given  to  me."  King  Louis  Philippe  said 
one  day  to  Marshal  Gerard:  "Had  they  listened  to 
the  Duke  of  Doudeauville,  and  not  broken  up  the 
National  Guard  of  Paris,  the  revolution  would  not 
have  taken  place." 

The  great  lord,  good  citizen,  and  good  Christian, 
who,  at  periods  most  disturbed  by  changes  of  regime, 
had  always  been  as  firm  in  the  application  of  his 
principles  as  he  was  moderate  in  his  actions  and  gen- 


112  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BEREY 

tie  in  his  method,  made  himself  as  much  respected 
under  Louis  Philippe  as  under  the  Restoration. 
During  the  cholera,  he  set  the  example  of  absolute 
devotion  and  was  constantly  in  the  hospitals.  He 
continued  to  sit  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers  until  the 
close  of  the  trial  of  the  Ministers,  in  the  hope  of 
saving  the  servitors  of  Charles  X.  But  when  Louis 
Philippe  quitted  the  Palais  Royal  to  install  himself 
at  the  Tuileries,  he  resigned  as  Peer  of  France.  He 
no  longer  wished  to  reappear  at  the  Chateau  where 
he  had  seen  Louis  XVIII.  and  Charles  X.,  and  in  a 
letter  to  the  Queen  Marie-Am^lie,  who  had  a  real 
veneration  for  him,  he  wrote :  "  My  presence  at  the 
Tuileries  would  be  out  of  place,  and  even  the  new 
hosts  of  that  palace  would  be  astonished  at  it."  The 
Duke  of  Doudeauville,  who  died  at  a  great  age,  in 
1841,  devoted  his  last  years  to  good  works,  to  char- 
ity, to  the  benevolent  establishments  of  which  he 
was  the  president.  One  day  at  the  H8tel  de  Ville, 
he  drew  applause  from  an  assembly  far  from  relig- 
ious, by  the  words  we  are  about  to  cite,  because  they 
discovered  in  them  his  whole  mind  and  heart:  "A 
husband  would  like  a  wife  reserved,  economical,  a 
good  housekeeper,  an  excellent  mother  for  his  fam- 
ily, charming,  eager  to  please  him  —  him  only,  adorn- 
ing herself  with  virtue,  the  one  ornament  that  is 
never  ruinous,  having  great  gentleness  for  him, 
great  strength  as  against  all  others;  he  would  wish, 
in  fine,  a  perfect  wife.  I  should  like  to  believe 
that  there  are  many  such,  especially  among  my  lis' 


THE  DUKE  OF  BOUBEAUVILLE  113 

teners,  but  I  should  think  it  a  miracle  if  one  of 
them  united  all  these  qualities  without  having 
the  principles  of  religion.  A  woman,  pretty,  witty, 
agreeable,  would  like  her  husband  to  think  she  was 
so,  that  he  should  be  as  amiable  for  her,  or  almost, 
as  for  those  he  saw  for  the  first  time ;  that  he  should 
not  keep  his  ill  humor  and  his  brusqueness  for  his 
home  and  lavish  his  care  and  attention  on  society; 
that  he  should  forget  sometimes  that  he  is  a  master, 
—  in  some  ways  a  despotic  master,  —  despite  the  lib- 
eralism of  the  century  and  the  progress  of  philoso- 
phy ;  that  he  should  be  willing  to  be  a  friend,  even 
if  he  ceased  to  be  a  lover;  finally,  that  he  should  not 
seek  from  others  what  he  will  more  surely  find  at 
home.  Let  this  tender  wife  invoke  religion,  let  her 
cause  her  husband  to  love  it,  let  her  win  him  to  it ; 
she  will  get  what  she  hopes  for  and  thank  me  for  the 
recipe." 

Our  lady  readers  will  thank  us,  we  hope,  for  hav- 
ing spoken  of  a  man  who  gives  them  such  good 
advice;  and  it  is  with  pleasure  that  we  have  taken 
the  occasion  to  render  homage  to  the  memory  of  a 
great  lord,  who  doubly  deserved  the  title,  by  the  ele- 
vation of  his  ideas  and  the  nobility  of  his  sentiments. 
Such  men  —  alas !  they  are  rare  —  would  have  saved 
the  Restoration  if  the  Restoration  could  have  been 
saved. 


XII 

THE  HOUSEHOLD   OP   THE  DUCHESS   OP   BERRY 

WE  shall  now,  commencing  witli  the  ladies, 
throw  a  rapid  glance  over  the  persons  who, 
at  the  time  of  the  consecration,  formed  the  household 
of  the  Duchess  of  Berry.  The  Princess  had  one  lady 
of  honor,  one  lady  of  the  bedchamber,  and  eleven 
lady  companions,  of  whom  three  were  honorary.  All 
were  distinguished  as  much  by  their  manners  and 
sentiments  as  by  birth  and  education. 

The  lady  of  honor  was  the  Mar^chale  Oudinot, 
Duchess  of  Reggio,  a  lady  of  the  highest  rank,  who 
joined  a  large  heart  to  a  firm  mind.  Attached, 
through  her  family,  to  the  religious  and  monarchical 
principles  of  the  old  r<?gime,  by  her  marriage  to  the 
glories  of  the  imperial  epic,  she  represented  at  the 
court  the  ideas  of  pacification  and  fusion  that  inspired 
the  policy  of  Louis  XVIII.  Born  in  1791,  of  Antoine 
de  Coucy,  captain  in  the  regiment  of  Artois,  and  of 
Gabrielle  de  Mersuay,  she  was  but  two  years  old  when 
her  father  and  mother  were  thrown  into  the  dungeons 
of  the  Terror.  Carried  in  the  arms  of  a  faithful 
serving-woman,  she  visited  the  two  prisoners,  who 
escaped  death.  She  married  one  of  Napoleon's  most 
114 


HER  nOUSEHOLD  115 

illustrious  companions  in  arms,  the  "modern  Bay- 
ard," as  he  was  called,  the  Marshal  Oudinot,  Duke  of 
Reggio,  who  had  received  thirty-two  wounds  on  the 
field  of  battle,  and  who,  by  securing  the  passage  of 
Beresina,  deserved  to  be  called  the  "saviour  of  the 
army."  He  was  wounded  at  the  close  of  the  Rus- 
sian campaign.  Then  his  young  wife  crossed  all 
Europe  to  go  and  care  for  him  and  saved  him.  She 
was  but  twenty.  She  was  only  twenty-four  when 
Louis  XVIII.  named  her  lad}'  of  honor  to  the  Duch- 
ess of  Berry.  Despite  her  extreme  j^outh,  she  filled 
her  delicate  functions  with  exquisite  tact  and  preco- 
cious wisdom,  and  from  the  first  exercised  a  happy 
influence  over  the  mind  of  the  Princess,  who  gladly 
listened  to  her  counsels.  Very  active  in  work,  the 
lady  of  honor  busied  herself  with  untiring  zeal  with 
the  details  of  her  charge.  She  was  the  directress, 
the  secretary,  the  factotum,  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry. 
The  Abb^  Tripled,  who  pronounced  her  funeral 
eulogy  at  Bar-le-Duc,  May  21st,  1868,  traced  a  very 
lifelike  portrait  of  her.  Let  us  hear  the  ecclesiastic 
witness  of  the  high  virtues  of  this  truly  superior 
woman. 

"She  bore,"  he  said,  "with  equal  force  and  sagac- 
ity her  titles  of  lady  of  honor  and  Duchess  of  Reggio. 
Proud  of  her  hlason,  where  were  crossed  the  arms  of 
the  old  and  of  the  new  nobilit}-,  and  where  she  saw, 
as  did  the  King,  a  sign,  as  it  were,  of  reconciliation 
and  peace,  she  bore  it  high  and  firm,  and  defended  it 
in  its  new  glories,   against  insulting  attacks.      An 


116  THE  DUCHESS  OF  liERRT 

ornament  to  the  court,  by  her  graces  and  her  high 
distinction,  she  displayed  there,  for  the  cause  of  the 
good,  all  the  resources  of  her  mind  and  the  riches  of 
her  heart.  But  none  of  the  seductions  and  agitations 
she  met  there  disturbed  the  limpidity  of  her  pure 
soul.  Malignity,  itself  at  bay,  was  forced  to  recog- 
nize and  avow  that  in  the  Duchess  of  Reggio  no 
other  stain  could  be  found  than  the  ink-stains  she 
sometimes  allowed  her  pen  to  make  upon  her  finger. 
In  her  greatness,  this  noble  woman  saw,  before  all, 
the  side  of  duty." 

In  1832,  when  the  Duchess  of  Berry  was  impris- 
oned in  the  citadel  of  Blaye,  her  former  lady  of  honor 
asked,  without  being  able  to  obtain  that  favor,  the 
privilege  of  sharing  her  captivity.  The  Duchess  of 
Reggio  to  the  last  set  an  example  of  devotion  and  of 
all  the  virtues.  She  was  so  gracious  and  affable  that 
one  day  some  one  remarked:  "When  the  Duchess 
gives  you  advice,  it  seems  as  if  she  were  asking  a 
service  of  you."  When  the  noble  lady  died,  April 
18th,  1868,  at  Bar-le-Duc,  where  her  good  works  and 
her  intelligent  charity  had  made  her  beloved,  they 
wished  to  give  her  name  to  one  of  the  streets  of  the 
city,  and  as  they  already  had  tlie  Rue  Oudinot  and 
the  Place  Reggio,  one  of  the  streets  was  called  the 
Rue  de  La  Mar<?chale. 

The  lady  of  the  bedchamber  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry 
and  her  lady  companions  all  belonged  to  the  old  aris- 
tocracy. The  Countess  of  Noailles,  lady  of  the  bed- 
chamber, a  woman    full   of   intelligence,   and   very 


HER  HOUSEHOLD  111 

beautiful,  a  mother  worthy  of  all  praise,  was  the 
daughter  of  the  Duke  de  Talleyrand,  the  niece  of  the 
Prince  de  Talleyrand,  the  wife  of  Count  Just  de 
Noailles,  second  son  of  the  Prince  of  Poix. 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  had  eight  lady  companions : 
the  Countess  of  Bouille,  the  Countess  d'Hautefort, 
the  Marchioness  of  Bethisy,  the  Marchioness  of 
Gourgues,  the  Countess  of  Casteja,  the  Countess  of 
Rosanbo,  the  Marchioness  of  Podenas;  and  three 
whose  title  was  honorary,  the  Marchioness  of  Lauris- 
ton,  the  Countess  Charles  de  Gontaut,  and  the  Coun- 
tess de  La  Rochejaquelein. 

The  Countess  of  BouilM,  who  at  the  time  of  the 
coronation  of  Charles  X.  was  about  forty  years  old, 
was  a  Creole,  very  agreeable  and  much  respected. 

The  Countess  d'Hautefort,  7iee  Maille-Latour- 
Landry,  forty-one  years  old,  married  to  a  colonel 
who  belonged  to  the  fourth  company  of  the  body- 
guards, was  a  woman  of  much  intelligence,  charm- 
ingly natural,  and  an  excellent  musician.  She  shared 
in  1832  the  captivity  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry. 

Very  distinguished  in  manner  and  sentiment  as  in 
birth,  the  Marchioness  Charles  de  B^thisy,  married  to 
a  lieutenant-general  and  peer  of  France ;  the  Countess 
of  Gourgues,  7iee  Montboissier,  married  to  a  master 
of  requests,  a  deputy;  the  Countess  of  Mefflay,  a 
young  and  charming  woman,  daughter  of  the  Coun- 
tess of  Latour,  whom  the  Duchess  of  Berry  had  as 
governess  in  the  Two  Sicilies,  and  wife  of  the  Count 
Meffray,  receiver-general  of  Gers;  the  Viscountess 


118  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

of  Castdja,  daughter  of  the  Marquis  of  Bombelles, 
major-general,  ambassador  of  Louis  XVI.  at  Lisbon 
and  Vienna,  then  priest,  Canon  of  Breslau,  Bishop 
of  Amiens,  First  Ahnoner  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry 
(he  died  in  1822,  and  one  of  his  sons,  Charles  de 
Bombelles,  married  morganatically  the  Empress 
Marie-Louise,  in  1833);  the  Countess  of  Rosanbo, 
daughter  of  the  Count  of  Mesnard ;  the  Marchioness 
of  Podenas,  wife  of  a  lieutenant-colonel;  the  Mar- 
chioness of  Lauriston,  wife  of  the  marshal,  formerly 
lady  of  the  palace  to  the  Empress  Josephine  and  the 
Empress  Marie-Louise;  the  Countess  Charles  de 
Gontaut,  whose  husband  was  chamberlain  of  the 
Emperor,  a  very  young  and  very  pretty  woman, 
remarkable  for  the  vivacity  of  her  mind;  the  Coun- 
tess de  La  Rochejaquelein,  nee  Duras,  a  very  pious 
and  very  charitable  woman,  whose  husband  was  a 
major-general.  In  fact,  the  circle  around  the  Duch- 
ess of  Berry  was  perfection.  The  greatest  ladies  of 
France  were  by  her  side,  and  the  society  of  the  Petit 
Chdteau,  as  the  Pavilion  de  Marsan  was  called,  was 
certainly  fitted  to  give  the  tone  to  the  principal  salons 
of  Paris. 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  had  as  chevalier  d'honneur 
a  great  lord,  very  learned,  known  for  his  unchange- 
able devotion  to  royalty,  the  Duke  de  S^vis  (born  in 
1755,  died  in  1830).  The  Duke,  who  emigrated  and 
was  wounded  at  Quiberon,  held  himself  apart  during 
the  Empire,  and  published  highly  esteemed  writings 
on  finance,  some  Memoirs,  and  a  Recueil  de  Souvenirs 


HER  BOcrSEHOLD  119 

et  Portraits.  He  was  a  peer  of  France  and  member 
of  the  French  Academy.  For  adjunct  to  the  cheva- 
lier d'honneur,  the  Duchess  had  the  Count  Emma- 
nuel de  Brissac,  one  of  the  finest  characters  of  the 
court,  married  to  a  Montmorency. 

Her  first  equerr}^  was  the  Count  Charles  de  Mes- 
nard,  a  Vendean  gentleman  of  proven  devotion. 
The  Count  Charles  de  Mesnard  was  born  at  Lugon, 
in  1769,  the  same  year  as  Napoleon,  whose  fellow- 
pupil  he  was  at  Brienne.  Belonging  to  one  of  those 
old  houses  of  simple  gentlemen  who  have  the  antiq- 
uity of  the  greatest  races,  he  was  son  of  a  major- 
general  who  distinguished  himself  in  the  Seven 
Years  War,  and  who  at  the  close  of  the  old  regime 
was  gentleman  of  the  chamber  of  the  Count  of  Pro- 
vence (Louis  XVIII.),  and  captain  of  the  Guards  of 
the  Gate  of  this  Prince.  He  emigrated,  and  served 
in  the  ranks  of  the  army  of  Condd,  with  his  older 
brother,  the  Count  Edouard  de  Mesnard,  married  to 
Mademoiselle  de  Caumont-Laforce,  daughter  of  the 
former  governess  of  the  children  of  the  Count  d'Ar- 
tois  (Charles  X.),  and  sister  of  the  Countess  of  Balbi. 
The  Count  Edouard  de  Mesnard,  having  entered 
Paris  secretly,  was  shot  there  as  SmigrS.,  October  27th, 
1797,  despite  all  the  efforts  of  the  wife  of  General 
Bonaparte  to  save  him.  When  he  was  going  to  his 
death,  his  eyes  met,  on  the  boulevard,  those  of  one  of 
his  friends,  the  Marquis  of  Galard,  who  had  returned 
with  him  secretly.  The  condemned  man  had  the 
presence  of  mind  to  seem  not  to  recognize  the  passer- 


120  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

by,  and  tlie  latter  was  saved,  as  lie  himself  related 
with  emotion  sixty  years  afterward. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Empire,  the  Count 
Charles  de  Mesnard  was  living  at  London,  where  he 
was  reduced  to  gaining  his  living  by  copying  music, 
when  the  Emperor  offered  to  restore  his  confiscated 
property  if  he  would  come  to  France  and  unite  with 
the  new  regime.  The  Count  of  Mesnard  preferred  to 
remain  in  England  near  the  Duke  of  Berry,  who 
showed  great  affection  for  him.  The  Restoration 
compensated  the  faithful  companion  of  exile.  He 
was  a  peer  of  France  and  Charles  X.  treated  him  as 
a  friend.  He  had  married,  during  the  Emigration, 
an  English  lady,  Mrs.  Sarah  Mason,  widow  of  Gen- 
eral Blondell,  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter,  Aglad, 
who  was  named  a  lady  companion  to  the  Duchess  of 
Berry,  at  the  time  of  her  marriage,  in  1825,  with  the 
Count  Ludovic  de  Rosanbo,  and  a  son,  Ferdinand, 
married  in  1829,  to  Mademoiselle  de  Bellissen. 

The  Princess  had  for  equerrj^-de-main,  the  Vis- 
count d'Hanache;  for  honorary  equerry,  the  Baron 
of  Fontanes;  for  equerry  porte-manteau,  M.  Gory. 
Her  secretary  of  orders  was  the  Marquis  de  Sas- 
senay,  who  bore,  besides,  the  title  of  Administra- 
tor of  the  Finances  and  Treasurer  of  Madame.  He 
had  under  his  orders  a  controller-general,  M.  Michals, 
who  was  of  such  integrity  and  devotion  that  when, 
after  the  Revolution  of  July,  he  presented  himself  at 
Holyrood  to  give  in  his  accounts  to  the  Duchess  of 
Berry,  she  made  him  a  present  of  her  portrait. 


HER  HOUSEHOLD  121 

There  was  not  a  private  household  in  France  where 
more  order  reigned  than  in  that  of  Madame.  The 
chief  of  each  service,  —  the  Duchess  of  Reggio,  the 
Viscount  Just  de  Noailles,  the  Count  Emmanuel  de 
Brissac,  and  the  Count  of  Mesnarcl,  presented  his  or 
her  budget  and  arranged  the  expenditures  in  advance 
with  the  Princess.  This  budget  being  paid  by  twelfths 
before  the  loth  of  the  following  month,  she  required 
to  have  submitted  to  her  the  receipts  of  the  month 
past.  This  did  not  prevent  Madame  from  being 
exceedingly  generous.  One  day  she  learned  that  a 
poor  woman  had  just  brought  three  children  into  the 
world  and  knew  not  how  to  pay  for  three  nurses, 
three  layettes,  three  cradles.  Instantly  she  wished 
to  relieve  her.  But  it  was  the  end  of  the  month; 
the  money  of  all  the  services  had  been  spent. 

"Lend  me  something,"  she  said  to  the  controller- 
general  of  her  household;  "you  will  trust  me;  no 
one  will  trust  this  unfortunate  woman." 

As  M.  Nettement  remarked:  "The  Duchess  of 
Berry  held  it  as  a  principle  that  princes  should  be 
like  the  sun  which  draws  water  from  the  streams 
only  to  return  it  in  dew  and  rain.  She  considered 
her  civil  list  as  the  property  of  all,  administered  by 
her.  She  was  to  be  seen  at  all  expositions  and  in 
all  the  shops,  buying  whatever  was  offered  that  was 
most  remarkable.  Sometimes  she  kept  these  pur- 
chases, sometimes  she  sent  them  to  her  family  at 
Naples,  Vienna,  Macbid,  and  her  letters  used  warmly 
to  recommend  in  foreign  cities  whatever  was  useful 


122         THE  DUCUESS   OF  BERRY' 

or  beautiful  in  France.  She  was  thus  in  every  way 
the  Providence  of  the  arts,  of  industry,  and  com- 
merce." 

To  sum  up,  the  household  of  the  Duchess  of  BeiTy 
worked  to  perfection,  and  Madame,  always  affable 
and  good,  inspired  a  profound  devotion  in  all  about 
her. 


XIII 

THE  PEEPAEATIONS  FOR  THE  CORONATION 

THE  coronation  of  Louis  XVI.  took  place  the 
11th  of  June,  1775,  and  since  that  time  there 
had  been  none.  For  Louis  XVII.  there  was  none 
but  that  of  sorrow.  Louis  XVIII.  had  desired  it 
eagerly,  but  he  was  not  sufficiently  strong  or  alert  to 
bear  the  fatigue  of  a  ceremony  so  long  and  compli- 
cated, and  his  infirmities  would  have  been  too  evident 
beneath  the  vault  of  the  ancient  Cathedi-al  of  Rheims. 
An  interval  of  fifty  years  —  from  1775  to  1825  — 
separated  the  coronation  of  Louis  XVI.  from  that  of 
his  brother  Charles  X.  How  many  things  had  passed 
in  that  half-century,  one  of  the  most  fruitful  in 
vicissitudes  and  catastrophes,  one  of  the  strangest 
and  most  troubled  of  which  history  has  preserved  the 
memory ! 

Chateaubriand,  who,  later,  in  his  MSmoires  d^ outre- 
tombe,  so  full  of  sadness  and  bitterness,  was  to  speak 
of  the  coronation  in  a  tone  of  scepticism  verging 
on  raillery,  celebrated  at  the  accession  of  Charles,  in 
almost  epic  language,  the  merits  of  this  traditional 
solemnity  without  which  a  "  Very  Christian  King  " 
was  not  yet  completely  King.     In  his  pamphlet,  Le 

123 


124  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

roi  est  mort!  Vive  le  roif  he  conjured  the  new  mon- 
arch to  give  to  his  crown  this  religious  consecration. 
"  Let  us  humbly  supplicate  Charles  X.  to  imitate  his 
ancestors,"  said  the  author  of  the  Genie  du  Chris- 
tianisme.  "  Thirty-two  sovereigns  of  the  third  race 
have  received  the  royal  unction,  that  is  to  say,  all 
the  sovereigns  of  that  race  except  Jean  ler,  who  died 
four  days  after  his  birth,  Louis  XVII. ,  and  Louis 
XVIII. ,  on  whom  royalty  fell,  on  one  in  the  Tower 
of  the  Temple,  on  the  other  in  a  foreign  land.  The 
words  of  Adalb^ron,  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  on  the 
subject  of  the  coronation  of  Hugh  Capet,  are  still 
true  to-day.  'The  coronation  of  the  King  of  the 
French,'  he  says,  'is  a  public  interest  and  not  a 
private  affair,  Puhlica  sunt  Ticbc  negotia,  non  privata.'' 
May  Charles  X.  deign  to  weigh  these  words,  applied 
to  the  author  of  his  race ;  in  weeping  for  a  brother, 
may  he  remember  that  he  is  King !  The  Chambers 
or  the  Deputies  of  the  Chambers  whom  he  may  sum- 
mon to  Rheims  in  his  suite,  the  magistrates  who  shall 
swell  his  cortege,  the  soldiers  who  shall  surround  his 
person,  will  feel  the  faith  of  religion  and  royalty 
strengthened  in  them  by  this  imposing  solemnity. 
Charles  VII.  created  knights  at  his  coronation ;  the 
first  Christian  King  of  the  French,  at  his  received 
baptism  with  four  thousand  of  his  companions  in 
arms.  In  the  same  way  Charles  X.  will  at  his  coro- 
nation create  more  than  one  knight  of  the  cause  of 
legitimacy,  and  more  than  one  Frenchman  will  there 
receive  the  baptism  of  fidelity." 


THE  PREPARATION  FOR   THE  CORONATION     125 

Charles  X.  had  no  hesitation.  This  crowned  rep- 
resentative of  the  union  of  the  throne  and  the  altar 
did  not  comprehend  royalty  without  coronation. 
Not  to  receive  the  holy  unction  would  have  been  for 
him  a  case  of  conscience,  a  sort  of  sacrilege.  In  open- 
ing the  session  of  the  Chambers  in  the  Hall  of  the 
Guards  at  the  Louvre,  December  22d,  1824,  he  an- 
nounced, amid  general  approval,  the  grand  solem- 
nity that  was  to  take  place  at  liheims  in  the  course 
of  the  following  year.  "I  wish,"  he  said,  "the 
ceremony  of  my  coronation  to  close  the  first  ses- 
sion of  my  reign.  You  will  attend,  gentlemen,  this 
august  ceremony.  There,  prostrate  at  the  foot  of  the 
same  altar  where  Clovis  received  the  holy  unction, 
and  in  the  presence  of  Him  who  judges  peoples  and 
kings,  I  shall  renew  the  oath  to  maintain  and  to 
cause  to  be  respected  the  institutions  established  by 
my  brother;  I  shall  thank  Divine  Providence  for 
having  deigned  to  use  me  to  repair  the  last  misfor- 
tunes of  my  people,  and  I  shall  pray  Him  to  continue 
to  protect  this  beautiful  France  that  I  am  proud  to 
govern." 

If  Napoleon,  amid  sceptical  soldiers,  former  co7i- 
ventionnels,  and  former  regicides,  had  easily  secured 
the  adoption  of  the  idea  of  his  coronation  at  Notre- 
Dame,  by  so  much  the  more  easy  was  it  for  Charles 
X.  to  obtain  the  adoption,  by  royalist  France,  of  the 
project  of  his  coronation  at  Rheims.  "The  King 
saw  in  this  act,"  said  Lamartine,  "a  real  sacrament 
for  the  crown,  the  people  a  ceremony  that  carried  its 


126  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERBY 

imagination  back  to  the  pomps  of  the  past,  politicians 
a  concession  to  the  court  of  Rome,  claiming  the  in- 
vestiture of  kings,  and  a  denial  in  fact  of  the  prin- 
ciple, not  formulated  but  latent  since  1789,  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people.  But  as  a  rule,  there  was 
no  vehement  discussion  of  an  act  generally  con- 
sidered as  belonging  to  the  etiquette  of  royalty, 
without  importance  for  or  against  the  institutions  of 
the  country.  It  was  the  fete  of  the  accession  to  the 
throne  —  a  luxury  of  the  crown.  The  oaths  to  exter- 
minate heretics,  formerly  taken  by  the  kings  of 
France  at  their  coronation,  were  modified  in  con- 
cert with  the  court  of  Rome  and  the  bishops.  For 
these  was  substituted  the  oath  to  govern  according 
to  the  Charter.  Thus  it  was  in  reality  a  new  conse- 
cration of  liberty  as  well  as  of  the  crown."  The 
French  love  pomp,  ceremonies,  spectacles.  The  idea 
of  a  consecration  was  not  displeasing  to  them,  and 
with  rare  exceptions,  the  Voltaireans  themselves  re- 
frained from  criticising  the  ceremony  that  was  in  the 
course  of  preparation.  It  soon  became  the  subject  of 
conversation  on  every  side. 

Six  millions  voted  by  the  two  Chambers  for  the 
expenses  of  the  coronation,  at  the  time  that  the 
civil  list  was  regulated  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign, 
permitted  the  repairs  required  by  the  Cathedral  of 
Rheims  to  be  begun  in  January,  1825.  The  arches 
that  had  sunken,  or  threatened  to  do  so,  were 
strengthened;  the  ancient  sculptured  decorations 
were   restored;    the  windows  were   completed;    the 


THE  PBEPARATION  FOR   THE  CORONATION     127 

fallen  statues  were  raised.  It  was  claimed  that  even 
the  holy  ampulla  had  been  found,  that  miraculous 
oil,  believed,  according  to  the  royal  superstitions  of 
former  ages,  to  have  been  brought  from  heaven  by  a 
dove  for  the  anointing  of  crowned  heads.  The  Revo- 
lution thought  that  it  had  destroyed  this  relic  for- 
ever. The  6th  of  October,  1793,  a  commissioner  of 
the  Convention,  the  representative  of  the  people, 
Ruhl,  had,  in  fact,  publicly  broken  it  on  the  pedestal 
of  the  statue  of  Louis  XV.  But  it  was  related  that 
faithful  hands  had  succeeded  in  gathering  some  frag- 
ments of  the  phial  as  well  as  some  particles  of  the 
balm  contained  in  it.  The  25th  of  January,  1819, 
the  Abb^  Seraiue,  who  in  1793  was  cur^  of  Saint- 
Remi  of  Rheims,  made  the  following  declaration :  — 
"The  17th  of  October,  1793,  M.  Hourelle,  then 
municipal  officer  and  first  warden  of  the  parish  of 
Saint-Remi,  came  to  me  and  notified  me,  from  the 
representative  of  the  people,  Ruhl,  of  the  order  to 
remit  the  reliquary  containing  the  holy  ampulla,  to 
be  broken.  We  resolved,  M.  Hourelle  and  I,  since  we 
could  do  no  better,  to  take  from  the  holy  ampulla  the 
greater  part  of  the  balm  contained  in  it.  We  went 
to  the  Church  of  Saint-Remi ;  I  withdi-ew  the  reli- 
quary from  the  tomb  of  the  saint,  and  bore  it  to  the 
sacristy,  where  I  opened  it  with  the  aid  of  small  iron 
pincers.  I  found  placed  in  the  stomach  of  a  dove  of 
gold  and  gilded  silver,  covered  with  white  enamel, 
having  the  beak  and  claws  in  red,  the  wings  spread, 
a  little  phial  of  glass  of  reddish  color  about  an  inch 


128  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

and  a  half  high  corked  with  a  piece  of  crimson 
damask.  I  examined  this  phial  attentively  in  the 
light,  and  I  perceived  a  great  number  of  marks  of  a 
'needle  on  the  sides ;  then  I  took  from  a  crimson  vel- 
vet bag,  embroidered  with  fleurs-de-lis  in  gold,  the 
needle  used  at  the  time  of  the  consecration  of  our 
kings,  to  extract  the  particles  of  balm,  dried  and 
clinging  to  the  glass.  I  detached  as  many  as  possi- 
ble, of  which  I  took  the  larger  part,  and  remitted 
the  smaller  to  M.  Hourelle." 

The  particles  thus  preserved  were  given  into  the 
hands  of  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  who  gathered 
them  in  a  new  reliquary. 

Sunday,  the  22d  of  May,  1825,  the  day  of  the  feast 
of  the  Pentecost,  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims  assembled 
in  a  chapel  of  that  city  the  metropolitan  clergy,  the 
principal  authorities,  and  the  persons  who  had  con- 
tributed to  the  preservation  of  the  particles  of  the 
precious  relic,  in  order  to  proceed,  in  their  presence, 
to  the  transfusion  of  those  particles  into  the  holy 
chrism,  to  be  enclosed  in  a  new  phial.  A  circum- 
stantial report  of  this  ceremony  was  prepared  in 
duplicate. 

"  Thus,"  said  the  Moniteur,  May  26,  "  there  remains 
no  doubt  that  the  holy  oil  that  will  flow  on  the  fore- 
head of  Charles  X.  in  the  solemnity  of  his  consecra- 
tion, is  the  same  as  that  which,  since  Clovis,  has 
consecrated  the  French  monarchs." 

The  day  of  the  consecration  approached.  The 
Mayor  of  Rheims,  M.   Ruinard  de  Brimont,  had  not 


THE  PREPARATION  FOR   THE  CORONATION     129 

a  moment's  rest.  At  the  consecration  of  Louis  XV., 
about  four  hundred  lodgings  had  been  marked  with 
chalk.  For  that  of  Charles  X.  there  were  sixteen 
hundi-ed,  and  those  who  placed  them  at  the  service 
of  the  administration  asked  no  compensation.  The 
19th  of  May  was  begun  the  placing  of  the  exterior 
decorations  on  the  wooden  porch  erected  in  front  of 
the  door  of  the  basilica.  It  harmonized  so  completely 
with  the  plan  of  the  edifice  that  "at  thirty  toises,^^  it 
seemed  a  part  of  the  edifice.  The  centrings  and  the 
interior  portieres  of  this  porch  presented  to  the  view 
a  canopy  sown  with  fleurs-de-lis  in  the  midst  of  which 
stood  out  the  royal  cipher  and  the  crown  of  France, 
modelled  in  antique  fashion.  These  decorations  were 
continued  from  the  portal  along  the  beautiful  gallery 
that  led  to  the  palace.  The  palace  itself,  whose 
apartments  had  been  adorned  and  furnished  with 
royal  magnificence,  was  entered  by  a  very  elegant 
porch.  The  grand  feasting-hall,  with  its  Gothic 
architecture,  its  colored  glass,  its  high  chimney-piece 
covered  with  escutcheons  and  surmounted  by  a  statue 
of  Saint-Remi,  its  portraits  of  all  the  kings  of  France, 
was  resplendent.  Three  tables  were  to  be  set  in  the 
royal  feasting-hall,  —  that  of  the  King,  that  of  the 
Dauphiness,  and  that  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry.  A 
galler}'  enclosed  in  glass,  where  there  was  a  table  of 
one  hundred  and  thirty  covers,  had  been  built  as  by 
enchantment.  On  leaving  the  feasting-hall,  one  en- 
tered the  covered  gallery,  which,  by  a  gentle  incline, 
led  to  the  Cathedral.     This  gallery  was  formed  of 


130  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

twenty-four  arcades  of  fifteen  feet  each,  and  joined 
at  right  angles  the  porch  erected  before  the  portal. 
By  this  arrangement  the  King  could  proceed  on  a 
level  from  his  apartment  to  the  Cathedral. 

In  the  middle  of  the  nave  was  erected  a  magnifi- 
cent jub^,  where  the  throne  of  Charles  X.  was  placed. 
The  cornice  of  the  Corinthian  order  was  supported 
by  twenty  columns.  At  the  four  corners  there  were 
gilded  angels.  The  summit  was  surmounted  by  a 
statue  of  Religion  and  an  angel  bearing  the  royal 
crown.  This  jub^,  glittering  with  gold,  was  placed 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  from  the  portal. 
There  was  a  passage  under  it  to  reach  the  choir,  and 
the  ascent  to  it  was  by  a  staircase  of  thirty  steps. 
As  it  was  open,  the  King  upon  his  thi'one  could  be 
seen  from  all  parts  of  the  basilica.  At  the  end  of 
the  choir,  to  the  right  on  entering,  was  the  gallery  of 
the  Dauphiness  and  the  Duchess  of  Berry;  to  the 
left,  opposite,  was  that  of  the  princes  and  princesses 
of  the  blood ;  lower,  toward  the  jub^,  and  also  on  the 
left,  that  of  the  ambassadors  and  strangers  of  distinc- 
tion ;  by  the  side  of  the  jub^,  the  gallery  of  the  fii'st 
gentlemen  of  the  chamber  of  the  King.  There  were, 
moreover,  two  rows  of  galleries  on  each  side  of  the 
nave.  The  sanctuary  was  beaming  with  gold.  The 
pillars,  surrounded  with  wainscoting,  were  covered 
with  rich  Gothic  ornaments.  Above  each  of  the  gal- 
leries was  a  portrait  of  a  king  of  France  seated  on 
his  throne;  still  higher,  portraits  of  bishops  and 
statues  of  the  cities  of  France  in  niches.     At  the 


THE  PREPARATION  FOR    THE  CORONATION     131 

back,  a  platform  had  been  constructed  for  the  musi- 
cians of  the  Chapel  of  the  King.  The  choir  and  the 
sanctuary  were  to  be  lighted  by  thirty-four  grand 
chandeliers,  besides  the  candelabra  attached  to  each 
pillar. 

Some  days  before  the  coronation,  which  excited  the 
curiosity  of  all  Europe,  the  city  of  Rheims  was  filled 
with  a  crowd  of  tourists.  The  streets  and  prome- 
nades of  the  city,  usually  so  quiet,  presented  an  ex- 
traordinary animation.  There  had  been  constructed 
a  bazaar,  tents,  caf^s,  places  for  public  games,  and  at 
the  gates  of  the  city  there  was  a  camp  of  ten  thou- 
sand men.  To  visit  this  camp  was  a  favorite  excur- 
sion for  the  people  and  for  strangers.  The  soldiers 
assembled  each  evening  before  their  tents  and  sang 
hymns  to  the  sovereign  and  the  glory  of  the  French 
arms.  In  the  evening  of  the  22d  of  May,  these 
military  choruses  were  closed  by  the  Serment  Fran- 
fais,  sung  by  all  voices.  At  the  words  "Let  us 
swear  to  be  faithful  to  Charles!  "  all  heads  were  un- 
covered, and  the  soldiers  waving  their  helmets  and 
shakos  in  the  air,  cried  over  and  again,  "  Long  live 
the  King!" 

On  May  24th,  the  King  left  Paris  with  the  Dau- 
phin. Before  going  to  Rheims  he  stopped  at  the 
Chateau  of  Compiegne,  where  he  remained  until  the 
27th,  amid  receptions  and  fetes  and  hunts. 

M.  de  Chateaubriand  was  already  at  Rheims.  He 
wrote  on  May  26 :  — 

"  The  King  arrives  day  after  to-morrow.     He  will 


132  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

be  crowned  Sunday,  the  29th.  I  shall  see  him  place 
upon  his  head  a  crown  that  no  one  dreamed  of  when 
I  raised  my  voice  in  1814.  I  write  this  page  of  my 
Memoirs  in  the  room  where  I  am  forgotten  amid  the 
noise.  This  morning  I  visited  Saint-Remi  and  the 
Cathedral  decorated  in  colored  paper.  The  only  clear 
idea  that  I  can  have  of  this  last  edifice  is  from  the 
decorations  of  the  Jeanne  d'  Arc  of  Schiller,  played  at 
Berlin.  The  opera-scene  painters  showed  me  on 
the  banks  of  the  Spree,  what  the  opera-scene  painters 
on  the  banks  of  the  Vesle  hide  from  me.  But  I 
amused  myself  with  the  old  races,  from  Clovis  with 
his  Franks  and  his  legion  come  down  from  heaven, 
to  Charles  VII.  with  Jeanne  d'Arc." 

The  writer,  who  some  weeks  earlier  had  expressed 
himself  in  terms  so  dithyrambic  as  to  the  consecra- 
tion, now  wrote  as  follows  of  this  religious  and 
monarchical  solemnity:  — 

"Under  what  happy  auspices  did  Louis  XVI. 
ascend  the  throne!  How  popular  he  was,  succeed- 
ing to  Louis  XV. !  And  yet  what  did  he  become  ? 
The  present  coronation  will  be  the  representation 
of  a  coronation.  It  will  not  be  one;  we  shall  see 
the  Marshal  Moncey,  an  actor  at  that  of  Napoleon, 
the  Marshal  who  formerly  celebrated  the  death  of  the 
tyrant  Louis  XVI.  in  his  army,  brandish  the  royal 
sword  at  Rheims  in  his  rank  as  Count  of  Flanders  or 
Duke  of  Aquitaine.  To  whom  can  this  parade  really 
convey  any  illusion  ?  I  should  have  wished  no  pomp 
to-day;   the  King   on   horseback,  the   church   bare, 


THE  PREPARATION  FOR   THE  CORONATION     133 

adorned  only  with  its  ancient  arches  and  tombs ;  the 
two  Chambers  present,  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  the 
Charter  taken  aloud  on  the  Bible.  This  would  have 
been  the  renewal  of  the  monarchy;  they  might  have 
begun  it  over  again  with  liberty  and  religion.  Un- 
fortunately there  was  little  love  of  liberty,  even  if 
they  had  had  at  least  a  taste  for  glory." 

This  is  not  all;  the  curious  royalist,  as  if  disa- 
bused as  to  Bourbon  glories,  so  extolled  by  him, 
glorifies,  apropos  of  the  coronation  of  Charles  X., 
the  Napoleon  whom  in  1814  he  called  disdainfully 
"Buonaparte,"  loading  him  with  the  most  cutting 
insults :  — 

"After  all,  did  not  the  new  coronation,  when 
the  Pope  anointed  a  man  as  great  as  the  chief  of  the 
second  race,  by  a  change  of  heads  alter  the  effect 
of  the  ancient  ceremony  of  our  history  ?  The  people 
have  been  led  to  think  that  a  pious  rite  does  not  dedi- 
cate any  one  to  the  throne,  or  else  renders  indifferent 
the  choice  of  the  brow  to  be  touched  by  the  holy  oil. 
The  supernumeraries  at  Notre-Dame  de  Paris,  play- 
ing also  in  the  Cathedral  of  Rheims,  are  no  longer  any- 
thing but  the  obligatory  personages  of  a  stage  that 
has  become  common.  The  advantage  really  is  with 
Napoleon,  who  furnishes  his  figurants  to  Charles  X. 
Tlie  figure  of  the  Emperor  thenceforth  dominates  all. 
It  appears  in  the  background  of  events  and  ideas. 
The  leaflets  of  the  good  time  to  which  we  have 
attained  shrivel  at  the  glance  of  his  eagles." 

Charles  X.  left  Compi^gne  the  27th  of  May  in  the 


134  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERBY 

morning,  and  slept  at  Fismes.  The  next  day,  the 
28th,  he  had  just  quitted  this  town  and  was  descend- 
ing a  steep  hill,  when  several  batteries  of  the  royal 
guard  fired  a  salute  at  his  departure;  the  horses, 
frightened,  took  flight.  Thanks  to  the  skill  of  the 
postilion,  there  was  no  accident  to  the  King;  but  a 
carriage  of  his  suite,  in  which  were  the  Duke  of  Au- 
mont,  the  Count  de  Coss^,  the  Duke  of  Damas,  and 
the  Count  Curial,  was  overturned  and  broken,  and 
the  last  two  wounded.  At  noon  Charles  X.  arrived 
at  a  league  and  a  half  from  Rheims,  at  the  village  of 
Tinqueux,  where  he  was  awaited  by  the  Dukes  of 
Orleans  and  Bourbon,  the  officers  of  his  civil  and 
military  household,  the  authorities  of  Rheims,  the 
legion  of  the  mounted  National  Guard  of  Paris,  etc. 
He  entered  the  gold  carriage,  —  termed  the  corona- 
tion carriage,  —  where  the  Dauphin  and  the  Dukes 
of  Orleans  and  Bourbon  took  their  places  beside 
him.  The  cortege  then  took  up  its  march.  From 
Tinqueux  to  Rheims,  the  royal  coach,  gleaming  with 
gold,  passed  under  a  long  arcade  of  triumphal  arches 
adorned  with  streamers  and  foliage.  From  the  gates 
of  the  city  to  the  Cathedral,  flowers  strewed  the  sand 
that  covered  the  ground.  All  the  houses  were  hung 
with  carpets  and  garlands ;  at  all  the  windows,  from 
all  the  balconies,  from  all  the  roofs,  innumerable  spec- 
tators shouted  their  acclamations;  the  cortege  ad- 
vanced to  the  sound  of  all  the  bells  of  the  city,  and 
to  the  noise  of  a  salvo  of  artillery  of  one  hundred  and 
one  guns.     The  King  was  received  under  a  dais  at 


THE  PREPARATION  FOR   TEE  CORONATION     135 

the  door  of  the  metropolitan  church,  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Rheims  in  his  pontifical  robes,  and  accom- 
panied by  his  suffragans,  the  Bishops  of  Soissons, 
Beauvais,  Chalons,  and  Amiens.  The  Archbishop 
presented  the  holy  water  to  the  sovereign,  who  knelt, 
kissed  the  Gospels,  then  was  escorted  processionally 
into  the  sanctuary.  His  prie-dieu  was  placed  at  fif- 
teen feet  from  the  altar,  on  a  platform,  about  which 
was  a  magnificent  canopy  hung  from  the  ceiling  of 
the  Cathedral. 

The  Dauphiness  had  entered  her  gallery  with  the 
Duchess  of  Berry  and  the  princesses  of  the  blood. 
The  Archbishop  celebrated  the  vespers,  and  then  the 
Cardinal  de  La  Fare  ascended  the  pulpit  and  deliv- 
ered a  sermon  in  which  he  said :  — 

"  God  of  Clovis,  if  there  is  here  below  a  spectacle 
capable  of  interesting  Thy  infinite  Majesty,  would 
it  not  be  that  which  in  this  solemnity  fixes  universal 
attention  and  invites  and  unites  all  prayers  ?  These 
days  of  saintly  privilege,  in  which  the  hero  of  Tol- 
biac,  and  thirteen  centuries  after  him,  the  sixty-fifth 
of  his  successors  have  come  to  the  same  temple  to 
receive  the  same  consecration,  can  they  be  con- 
founded with  the  multitude  of  human  events,  to  be 
buried  and  lost  in  the  endless  annals  ?  To  what,  O 
great  God !  if  not  to  the  persistence  of  Thy  immu- 
table decrees,  can  we  attribute,  on  this  earth,  always 
so  changing  and  mobile,  the  supernatural  gift  of  this 
miraculous  duration  ?  " 

The  Cardinal  covered  with  praises  not  only  the 


136  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

King,  but  the  Dauphin,  the  Dauphiness,  the  Duchess 
of  Berry,  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux.     He  cried :  — 

"Constantly  happy  as  King,  may  Charles  X.  be 
constantly  happy  as  father! 

"  May  his  paternal  glances  always  see  about  him, 
shining  with  a  brilliancy  that  nothing  can  change, 
this  family  so  precious,  the  ornament  of  his  court, 
the  charm  of  his  life,  the  future  of  France ! 

"  This  illustrious  Dauphin,  the  terror  of  the  genius 
of  evil,  the  swift  avenger  of  the  majesty  of  kings, 
conquering  hero  and  peace-maker! 

"This  magnanimous  Princess,  the  living  image 
of  celestial  charity,  the  visible  Providence  of  the  un- 
fortunate, the  model  of  heroism  as  of  virtue ! 

"  This  admirable  mother  of  the  Child  of  Miracle, 
who  restored  hope  to  the  dismayed  nation,  aston- 
ished it  by  her  courage  and  captivates  it  by  her 
goodness ! 

"  This  tender  scion  of  the  first  branch  of  the  lilies, 
the  object,  before  his  birth,  of  so  many  desires,  and 
now  of  so  many  hopes." 

The  Prince  of  the  Church,  amid  general  emotion, 
thus  closed  his  discourse :  — 

"May  it  be,  O  Lord!  thy  protecting  will,  that  if 
the  excess  of  ills  has  surpassed  our  presentiments 
and  our  fear,  the  reality  of  good  may,  in  its  turn, 
surpass  our  hopes  and  our  desires. 

"  Condescend  that  the  lasting  succor  of  Thy  grace 
may  guide  in  an  unbroken  progress  of  prosperity 
and  lead  to  happiness  without  vicissitude  or  end, 


THE  PREPARATION  FOR   THE  CORONATION     137 

our  King,  Thy  adorer,  and  his  people,  who,  under  his 
laws,  shall  be  more  than  ever  religious  and  faithful." 

After  the  sermon,  the  Archbishop  celebrated  the  Te 
Deum,  to  which  Charles  X.  listened  standing.  Then 
after  having  kissed  the  altar  and  a  reliquary  in  which 
was  a  piece  of  the  true  cross,  the  sovereign  returned 
to  his  apartments  in  the  Archbishop's  palace. 

Thus  passed  the  eve  of  the  consecration.  The 
same  day  M.  de  Chateaubriand  wrote :  — 

"Rheims,  Saturday,  the  eve  of  the  consecration.  I 
saw  the  King  enter.  I  saw  pass  the  gilded  coaches 
of  the  monarch  who,  a  little  while  ago,  had  not  a 
horse  to  mount;  I  saw  rolling  b}^,  carriages  full  of 
courtiers  who  had  not  known  how  to  defend  their 
master.  This  herd  went  to  the  church  to  sing  the 
Te  Deum,  and  I  went  to  visit  a  Roman  ruin,  and  to 
walk  alone  in  an  elm  grove  called  the  Bois  d'^ Amour. 
I  heard  from  afar  the  jubilation  of  the  bells ;  I  con- 
templated the  towers  of  the  Cathedral,  secular  wit- 
nesses of  this  ceremony  always  the  same  and  yet  so 
different  in  history,  time,  ideas,  morals,  usages,  and 
customs.  The  monarchy  perished,  and  for  a  long 
time  the  Cathedral  was  changed  to  a  stable.  Does 
Charles  X.,  when  he  sees  it  again  to-day,  recall  that 
he  saw  Louis  XVI.  receive  anointment  in  the  same 
place  where  he  in  his  turn  is  to  receive  it?  Will  he 
believe  that  a  consecration  shelters  him  from  misfor- 
tune ?  There  is  no  longer  a  hand  with  virtue  enough 
to  cure  the  king's  evil,  no  ampulla  with  holy  power 
sufficient  to  render  kingfs  inviolable." 


138  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

Such  was  the  disposition  of  the  great  writer,  always 
content  with  himself,  discontented  with  others.  The 
crowd  of  royalists,  far  from  showing  themselves  scep- 
tical and  morose,  as  he  was,  was  about  to  attend  the 
ceremony  of  the  morrow  in  a  wholly  different  mood. 
It  had  long  been  ready  with  its  enthusiasm,  and 
awaited  with  impatience  mingled  with  respect  the 
dawn  of  the  day  about  to  rise. 


XIV 


THE  COKONATION 


SUNDAY,  the  29th  of  May,  1825,  the  city  of 
Rheims  presented,  even  before  sunrise,  an  ex- 
traordinary animation.  From  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning  vehicles  were  circulating  in  the  streets, 
and  an  hour  after  people  with  tickets  were  directing 
their  steps  toward  the  Cathedi"al,  the  men  in  uniform 
or  court  dress,  the  women  in  full  dress.  The  sky 
was  clear  and  the  weather  cool. 

Let  us  listen  to  an  eye-witness,  the  Count  d'Haus- 
sonville,  the  future  member  of  the  French  Acad- 
emy:— 

"  Need  I  say  that  the  competition  had  been  ardent 
among  women  of  the  highest  rank  to  obtain  access 
to  the  galleries  of  the  Cathedi-al,  which,  not  having 
been  reserved  for  the  dignitaries,  could  receive  a 
small  number  of  happy  chosen  ones  ?  Such  was  the 
eagerness  of  this  feminine  battalion  to  mount  to  the 
assault  of  the  places  whence  they  could  see  and  be 
seen,  that  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  when  I  pre- 
sented myself  at  the  Gothic  porch  built  of  wood  before 
the  Cathedral,  I  found  them  already  there  and  under 
arms.     They  were  in  court  dress,   with  trains,   all 

139 


140  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERET 

wearing,  according  to  etiquette,  uniform  coiffures  of 
lace  passed  thi'ough  the  hair  (Avhat  they  called  harbes'), 
and  which  fell  about  their  necks  and  shoulders,  con- 
scientiously dScolletes.  For  a  cool  May  morning  it 
was  rather  a  light  costume ;  they  were  shivering  with 
cold.  In  vain  they  showed  their  tickets,  and  recited, 
in  order  to  gain  entrance,  their  titles  and  their  rank ; 
the  grenadier  of  the  royal  guard,  charged  with  main- 
taining order  until  the  hour  of  the  opening  of  the 
doors,  marched  unmoved  before  these  pretty  beggars, 
among  whom  I  remember  to  have  remarked  the  Coun- 
tess of  Choiseul,  her  sister,  the  Marchioness  of  Cril- 
lon,  the  Countess  of  Bourbon-Bosset,  etc.  He  had 
his  orders  from  his  chief  to  let  no  one  enter,  and  no 
one  did." 

Finally  the  doors  were  opened.  At  a  quarter  after 
six  all  the  galleries  were  filled.  The  foreign  sover- 
eigns were  represented  by  especial  ambassadors :  the 
King  of  Spain  by  the  Duke  of  Villa-Hermosa,  the 
Emperor  of  Austria  by  Prince  Esterhazy,  the  King  of 
England  by  the  Duke  of  Northumberland,  the  Em- 
peror of  Russia  by  the  Prince  Wolkonski,  the  King  of 
Prussia  by  General  de  Zastrow.  These  various  per- 
sonages were  objects  of  curiosity  to  the  crowd,  as  was 
Sidi-Mahmoud,  ambassador  of  the  Bey  of  Tunis. 
The  rich  toilets  and  dazzling  jewels  of  the  ladies  of 
the  court  were  admired;  all  ej^es  were  fixed  on  the 
gallery  where  were  the  Dauphiness,  the  Duchess  of 
Berry,  and  the  Duchess  and  Mademoiselle  d' Orleans, 
all  four  resplendent  with  diamonds.     The  spectacle 


THE  COBOKATION  141 

was  magnificent.  An  array  of  marvels  attracted  atten- 
tion. Behind  the  altar  the  sacred  vessels  in  gold,  of 
.  antique  form,  the  crown  in  diamonds  surmounted  by 
the  famous  stone,  the  "Regent,"  the  other  attributes 
of  royalty  on  a  cushion  of  velvet  embroidered  with 
fleurs-de-lis ;  on  the  front  of  the  altar  the  royal  man- 
tle, open,  not  less  than  twenty-four  feet  in  length ; 
on  the  altar  of  green-veined  marble,  superb  candela- 
bra in  gold ;  on  the  centre  of  the  cross  of  the  church, 
suspended  from  the  ceiling  above  the  choir  and  the 
prie-dieu  of  the  King,  an  immense  canopy  of  crimson 
velvet,  sown  with  golden  fleurs-de-lis;  at  the  back 
of  the  choir,  toward  the  nave,  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  from  the  portal,  the  gigantic  jub^  with  its 
staircase  of  thirty  steps;  upon  this  the  tlu-one;  all 
around  a  swarm  of  standards,  those  of  the  five  com- 
panies of  the  King's  body-guard,  and  the  flag  of  his 
foot-guards,  borne  by  the  superior  officers;  on  the 
two  sides  of  the  stairway,  ranged  en  Schelon,  the  flags 
and  standards  of  the  regiments  of  the  guard  and  of 
tbe  line  in  camp  under  the  walls  of  Rheims ;  a  splen- 
dor of  light,  banishing  all  regret  for  the  sun,  fi-om 
candelabra  at  the  entrance  of  the  choir,  from  chande- 
liers in  the  galleries,  from  chandeliers  full  of  candles 
suspended  from  the  ceiling,  fi'om  tapers  on  the  col- 
umns. 

The  Cardinals  de  Clermont-Tonnerre  and  de  La 
Fare,  preceded  by  the  metropolitan  chapter,  came 
to  seek  the  King  in  his  apartment  in  the  palace.  The 
Grand  Preceptor  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  royal 


142  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

chamber;  the  Grand  Chamberlain  said  in  a  loud 
voice :  — 

"What  do  you  seek?"  The  Cardinal  de  Cler- 
mont-Tonnerre  responded :  — 

"Charles  X.,  whom  God  has  given  us  for  King." 

Then  the  ushers  opened  the  doors  of  the  chamber. 
The  two  cardinals  entered  and  saluted  the  sovereign, 
who  rose  from  his  chair,  bowed,  and  received  the  hol}'^ 
water.  The  Cardinal  de  Clermont-Tonnerre  recited 
a  prayer.  The  cortege  was  formed,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing order  traversed  the  great  covered  gallery 
which  had  been  built  along  the  right  side  of  the 
Cathedral :  — 

The  metropolitan  chapter ;  the  King's  foot-guards ; 
the  band ;  the  heralds-at-arms ;  the  king-at-arms ;  the 
aides  de  c^rdmonies;  the  Grand  Master  of  Ceremo- 
nies, Marquis  de  Dreux-Br^zd;  the  four  knights  of 
the  Order  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  were  to  carry  the 
offerings,  viz.  the  Duke  de  Vauguyon  the  wine  in  a 
golden  vase,  the  Duke  of  Rochefoucauld  the  pain 
d'' argent^  the  Duke  of  Luxembourg  the  pain  d^or^  the 
Duke  of  Gramont  the  ewers  filled  with  silver  medals ; 
the  King's  pages  on  the  flanks ;  the  Marshal  Moncey, 
Duke  of  Conegliano,  charged  with  the  functions  of 
constable,  holding  in  his  hand  his  naked  sword;  the 
Duke  of  Mortemart,  captain-colonel  of  the  foot- 
guards  in  ordinary  to  the  King;  the  Marshal  Victor 
Duke  of  Bellune,  major-general  of  the  royal  guard; 
the  Marshal  Marquis  de  Lauriston,  the  Count  de 
Coss^,  and  the   Duke  de  Polignac,  named  by  the 


THE  CORONATION  143 

King  to  bear  his  train  in  the  church ;  then,  with  his 
two  attendant  cardinals,  de  Clermont-Tonnerre  and 
de  La  Fare,  one  at  his  right,  the  other  at  his  left,  the 
King. 

There  was  a  movement  of  curiosity,  attention,  and 
respect.  Charles  X.  had  entered  the  Cathedral.  The 
moment  his  foot  crossed  the  threshold,  Cardinal  de 
La  Fare  pronounced  a  prayer :  — 

"O  God,  who  knowest  that  the  human  race  can- 
not subsist  by  its  own  virtue,  grant  Thy  succor  to 
Charles,  Thy  servant,  whom  Thou  hast  put  at  the 
head  of  Thy  people,  that  he  may  himself  succor  and 
protect  those  subject  to  him." 

Here,  then,  is  Charles  X.  in  that  basilica  where 
fifty  years  before,  Sunday,  June  11,  1775,  he  assisted 
at  the  coronation  of  his  brother  Louis  XVI.  Then 
he  was  seventeen.  Ah!  what  would  have  been  his 
surprise  had  it  been  foretold  to  him  by  what  strange 
and  horrible  series  of  gloomy  and  bloody  dramas  he 
should  himself  come  to  be  crowned  in  this  Cathe- 
dral of  Rheims !  What  a  contrast  between  the  relig- 
ious pomps  of  June  11,  1775,  and  the  sacrilegious 
scaffolds  of  January  21  and  October  16,  1793 !  What 
a  difference  between  the  royal  mantle  of  the  sover- 
eign and  the  humble  costume  of  the  captive  of  the 
Temple,  between  the  resplendent  toilet  of  the  Queen 
of  France  and  Navarre  and  the  patched  gown  of  the 
prisoner  of  the  Conciergerie !  What  a  road  trav- 
elled between  the  hosannas  of  the  priests  and  the  in- 
sults of  the  Furies  of  the  Guillotine !     What  reflec- 


144  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERET 

tions  might  one  make  who  had  been  present  at  both 
the  ceremonies !  How  much  must  such  an  one  have 
been  moved  were  he  the  King  himself,  the  brother 
of  Louis  XVI.,  Charles  X. !  But  the  29th  of  May, 
1825,  all  hearts  inclined  to  confidence  and  joy.  Peo- 
ples forget  quickly,  and  there  Avere  but  few  to  call 
up  sinister  memories.  The  sovereign  appeared  in 
his  first  costume,  a  camisole  of  white  satin,  with 
a  cap  rich  with  diamonds,  surmounted  by  black 
and  white  plumes.  Despite  his  sixty-seven  years, 
Charles  X.  had  a  fine  presence,  a  slender  form,  a 
manner  almost  youthful.  State  costumes  became 
him  perfectly.  He  wore  them  with  the  elegance  of 
the  men  of  the  old  court. 

Let  us  listen  again  to  Count  d'Haussonville:  — 
"At  the  moment  Charles  X.  crossed  the  nave, 
clad  in  a  gown  of  white  satin,  opened  over  a  doublet 
of  the  same  color  and  the  same  material,  a  general 
thrill  evoked  a  thousand  little  cries  of  ecstasy  from 
my  lady  neighbors.  With  that  sensitiveness  to  grace 
innate  with  women,  and  which  never  fails  to  delight 
them,  how  could  they  help  applauding  the  royal  and 
supremely  elegant  fashion  in  which  Charles  X., 
despite  his  age,  wore  this  strange  and  slightly  theat- 
rical costume  ?  No  one  was  better  adapted  than  he, 
in  default  of  more  solid  qualities,  to  give  a  becoming 
air  to  the  outward  manifestations  of  a  royalty  that 
was  at  once  amiable  and  dignified." 

It  is  half-past  seven  in  the  morning.     The  cere- 
mony begins.     Escorted  by  his  two  attendant  car- 


THE  CORONATION  145 

dinals,  the  King  reaches  the  foot  of  the  altar  and 
kneels.  Mgr.  de  Latil,  Archbishop  of  Rheims, 
standing  and  without  his  mitre,  pronounces  this 
prayer : — 

"Almighty  God,  who  rulest  all  above  us,  and 
who  hast  deigned  to  raise  to  the  throne  Thy  servant 
Charles,  we  implore  Thee  to  preserve  him  from  all 
adversity,  to  strengthen  him  with  the  gift  of  the 
peace  of  the  Church,  and  to  bring  him  by  Thy  grace 
to  the  joys  of  a  peace  eternal!  " 

The  King  is  now  escorted  by  the  two  cardinals  to 
the  seat  prepared  for  him  in  the  centre  of  the  sanc- 
tuary, under  the  great  dais,  a  little  in  advance  of  the 
first  of  the  steps  that  divide  the  sanctuary  from  the 
choir.  At  his  right  are  the  Dauphin,  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  and  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  their  ducal 
crowns  on  their  heads. 

The  Veni  Creator  having  been  sung,  the  Arch- 
bishop takes  the  book  of  the  Gospels,  on  which  he 
places  a  piece  of  the  true  cross,  and  holds  it  open 
before  the  monarch.  Charles  X.,  seated,  his  head 
covered,  his  hand  on  the  Gospels  and  the  true  cross, 
pronounces  in  a  strong  voice  the  oath  of  corona- 
tion :  — 

"  In  the  presence  of  God,  I  promise  to  my  people 
to  maintain  and  honor  our  holy  religion,  as  belongs 
to  the  very  Christian  King  and  eldest  son  of  the 
Church;  to  render  good  justice  to  all  my  subjects; 
finally,  to  govern  according  to  the  laws  of  the  king- 
dom and  the  Constitutional  Charter,  which  I  swear 


146  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERBT 

faithfully  to  observe,  so  help  me  God  and  His  holy- 
Gospels." 

The  King  next  takes  two  other  oaths,  the  first  as 
sovereign  chief  and  grand  master  of  the  Order  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  the  others  as  sovereign  chief  and  grand 
master  of  the  military  and  royal  Order  of  Saint  Louis 
and  of  the  royal  Order  of  the  Legion  of  Honor.  He 
swears  to  maintain  these  orders  and  not  to  allow  them 
to  fail  of  their  glorious  prerogatives.  Then  his  gown 
is  removed  by  the  First  Gentleman  of  the  Chamber, 
and  he  gives  his  cap  to  the  First  Chamberlain.  He 
now  bears  only  the  robe  of  red  satin  with  gold 
lace  on  the  seams.  He  is  seated.  The  Marquis  of 
Dreux-Br^zd,  Grand  Master  of  Ceremonies,  goes  to 
the  altar  and  takes  the  shoes  of  violet  velvet  sown 
with  golden  fleurs-de-lis,  and  Prince  Talleyrand, 
Grand  Chamberlain,  puts  them  on  the  feet  of  the 
King. 

Then  the  Archbishop  blesses  the  sword  of  Charle- 
magne, placed  on  the  altar  in  its  scabbard :  — 

"  Exaudi  Domine, "  he  says,  "  grant  our  prayers,  and 
deign  to  bless  with  Thy  hand  this  sword  with  which 
Thy  servant  Charles  is  girt,  that  he  may  use  it  to 
protect  the  churches,  the  widows,  and  the  orphans, 
and  all  Thy  servants;  and  may  this  sword  inspire 
dread  and  terror  to  whoever  shall  dare  to  lay  snares 
for  our  King.  We  ask  it  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

The  Archbishop  draws  the  sword  from  the  sheath, 
and  places  it  naked  in  the  hands  of  the  King,  who, 


THE  CORONATION  147 

having  lowered  it,  offers  it  to  God  and  replaces  it 
upon  the  altar. 

To  the  ceremony  of  the  sword  succeeds  the  prepa- 
ration of  the  holy  chrism.  The  Archbishop  has  the 
reliquary  opened  containing  the  holy  ampulla,  which 
is  taken  from  a  little  chest  of  gold;  he  withdi-aws 
from  it,  by  means  of  a  golden  needle,  a  particle 
which  he  mingles  with  the  holy  chrism  on  the  patin. 
Meanwhile  the  choir  chants :  — 

"The  holy  Bishop  Remi,  having  received  from 
Heaven  this  precious  balm,  sanctified  the  illustrious 
race  of  the  French  in  the  baptismal  waters  and  en- 
riched them  with  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Then  the  two  attendant  cardinals  undo  the  open- 
ings made  in  the  garments  of  the  King  for  the 
anointings,  and  escort  His  Majesty  to  the  altar.  A 
large  carpet  of  velvet  with  fleurs-de-lis  is  stretched 
in  front,  and  on  this  are  two  cushions  of  velvet,  one 
over  the  other.  The  King  prostrates  himself,  his 
face  against  the  cushions.  The  Archbishop,  holding 
the  golden  patin  of  the  chalice  of  Saint  Remi,  on 
which  is  the  sacred  unction,  takes  some  upon  his 
thumb,  and  consecrates  the  King,  who  is  kneeling. 

The  Archbishop  then  proceeds  to  the  seven  anoint- 
ings :  on  the  crown  of  the  head,  on  the  breast,  between 
the  shoulders,  on  the  right  shoulder,  on  the  left 
shoulder,  in  the  bend  of  the  right  arm,  in  the  bend 
of  the  left  arm,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  at  each, 
and  repeating  seven  times :  Ungo  te  in  regem  de  oleo 
sanctijicato,  in  nomine  Patris  et  Filii  et  Spiritus  Sancti. 


148  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEERY 

Aided  by  the  attendant  cardinals,  he  then  closes  the 
openings  in  the  King's  garments. 

The  Grand  Chamberlain  advances,  and  puts  upon 
His  Majesty  the  tunic  and  dalmatica  of  violet  satin 
sown  with  fleurs-de-lis  in  gold,  which  the  Master  of 
Ceremonies  and  an  aide  have  taken  from  the  altar. 
The  Grand  Chamberlain  places  over  these  the  royal 
mantle  of  violet  velvet  sown  with  golden  fleurs-de- 
lis,  lined  and  bordered  with  ermine.  Charles  X., 
clad  in  the  royal  robes,  kneels.  The  Archbishop, 
seated,  with  the  mitre  on  his  head,  anoints  the  palms 
of  his  hands,  saying:  Ungentur  manus  istce  de  oho 
sanctijicato.  The  King  then  receives  the  gloves 
sprinkled  with  holy  water,  the  ring,  the  sceptre, 
the  main  de  justice. 

The  Dauphin,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  the  Duke 
of  Bourbon  advance.  The  Archbishop,  mitre  on 
head,  takes  with  both  hands  from  the  altar  the  crown 
of  Charlemagne  and  holds  it  above  the  King's  head 
without  touching  it.  Immediately  the  three  princes 
put  out  their  hands  to  support  it.  The  Archbishop, 
holding  it  with  the  left  hand  only,  with  the  right 
makes  the  sign  of  benediction :  Coronal  te  Deu8  corona 
glorice  atque  justitice.  After  which  he  places  the 
crown  on  the  head  of  the  King,  saying :  Accipe  coro- 
nam  regni  in  nomine  Patris  et  Filii  et  Spiritus  Sancti. 

Now  that  the  King  is  crowned,  he  ascends  the 
steps  of  the  jube,  and  seats  himself  upon  the  throne. 
The  religious  silence,  maintained  to  that  moment,  is 
broken  by  cries  of  "Long  live  the  King!"  which 


THE  CORONATION  149 

rise  from  all  parts  of  the  Cathedral.  The  ladies  in 
the  galleries  wave  their  handkerchiefs.  The  enthu- 
siasm reaches  a  paroxysm.  Flourishes  of  trumpets 
resound.  The  people  enter  the  Cathedral  amid 
acclamations.  Tlu-ee  salutes  are  fired  by  the  infantry 
of  the  royal  guard.  The  artillery  responds  from  the 
city  ramparts.  The  bells  ring.  The  heralds-at-arms 
distribute  the  medals  struck  for  the  coronation.  The 
people  rush  to  get  them.  The  keepers  release  the 
birds,  which  fly  here  and  there  beneath  the  vaulted 
roof,  dazzled,  terrified  by  the  shining  chandeliers. 
The  Te  Deum  is  sung.  High  Mass  begins.  At  the 
offertory  the  King  leaves  the  throne  to  go  to  the  altar 
with  the  offerings.  Reaching  the  front  of  the  altar, 
he  hands  his  sceptre  to  Marshal  Soult,  Duke  of  Dal- 
matia,  the  main  de  justice  to  Marshal  Mortier,  Duke 
of  Treviso.  Then,  after  having  presented  in  succes- 
sion the  offerings,  — viz.  the  w'ine  in  a  vase  of  gold, 
the  pain  d^ argent,  the  pain  d^or, — he  resumes  his 
sceptre  and  his  main  de  justice  and  returns  to  the 
thi'one. 

After  the  benediction,  the  Grand  Almoner  goes 
and  takes  the  kiss  of  peace  from  the  Archbishop,  and 
then  goes  and  gives  it  to  the  King.  The  Dauphin, 
the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  lay- 
ing aside  their  ducal  crowns,  come  and  receive  the 
kiss  from  the  King. 

After  the  Domine  salvion  fac  regem  Charles  X. 
again  descends  from  the  throne,  and  returns  to  the 
altar.      There   he   removes   his   crown    and   retires 


150  TBE  DUCHESS  OF  BERBT 

behind  the  altar  to  his  confessional,  where  he  re- 
mains three  minutes.  During  this  time  the  holy 
table  is  prepared.  The  cloth  is  held  on  one  side 
by  the  Bishop  of  Hermopolis,  First  Almoner  of  the 
King,  and  on  the  other  by  the  Grand  Almoner. 
Charles  X.  kneels  on  a  cushion  before  the  holy  table, 
which  is  supported  by  the  Dauphin  and  the  Duke  of 
Orleans.  The  King  receives  the  communion  in  both 
kinds.  The  whole  assembly  kneels.  The  great 
crown  of  Charlemagne  is  handed  to  Marshal  Jour- 
dan,  who  bears  it  in  front  of  the  King.  The  Arch- 
bishop then  places  the  diamond  crown  on  the  King's 
head,  who  resumes  his  sceptre  and  his  main  de  jus- 
tice, while  the  choir  chants  the  Exaudiat,  and  returns 
with  his  cortege  to  the  Archbishop's  palace,  passing 
through  the  church  and  the  covered  gallery.  It  is 
half-past  eleven  in  the  morning.  The  ceremony  of 
consecration  is  finished.     It  has  lasted  four  hours. 

Reaching  his  apartments,  Charles  X.  passes  the 
sceptre  to  Marshal  Soult,  the  main  de  justice  to 
Marshal  Mortier.  The  shirt  and  the  gloves  touched 
by  the  holy  unction  must  be  burnied.  The  great 
officers  of  the  crown  then  escort  the  monarch  to  the 
royal  banquet  in  the  great  hall.  There  he  eats  under 
a  dais  with  the  Dauphin,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and 
the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  with  their  ducal  crowns,  and 
he  with  the  diamond  crown  upon  the  head. 

The  royal  insignia  have  been  placed  upon  the  table 
which  is  served  by  the  great  officers  and  the  officers 
of  the  household.      The  marshals  of   France  stand 


THE  CORONATION  161 

before  the  sovereign  ready  to  resume  the  insignia. 
Around  about  are  five  other  tables,  where  are  pLaced 
the  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps,  the  peers  of 
France,  the  deputies,  the  cardinals,  archbishops,  and 
bishops.  The  royal  banquet  lasts  half  an  hour  to  the 
sound  of  military  music.  In  the  evening  the  city  of 
Rheims  is  everywhere  illuminated. 


XV 


CLOSE  OF  THE  SOJOUEN"  AT  EHEIMS 

AFTER  his  coronation  Charles  X.  remained  at 
Rheims  during  the  30th  and  31st  of  May.  On 
the  30th  the  ceremony  of  the  Order  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
was  celebrated  in  the  Cathedral.  The  interior  pre- 
sented the  same  aspect  as  the  day  before.  At  1  p.m. 
the  order  passed  in  procession  through  the  covered 
gallery  as  follows:  the  usher,  the  herald,  Marquis 
d'Aguessau,  Grand  Master  of  Ceremonies  of  the 
order,  having  at  his  right  the  Count  Deseze,  Com- 
mander Grand  Treasurer,  at  his  left  Marquis  de 
Villedeuil,  Commander  Secretary,  the  Chancellor, 
two  columns  of  Knights  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  In  the 
right  hand  column,  the  Viscount  of  Chateaubriand, 
the  Dukei  of  San-Carlos,  the  Prince  of  Castelcicala, 
the  Viscount  Laine,  the  Marquis  of  Caraman,  the 
Marquis  Dessole,  Marshal  Marquis  of  Viomesnil, 
the  Duke  d'Avaray,  the  Marshal  Duke  of  Ragusa,  the 
Marshal  Duke  of  Taranto,  the  Marshal  Duke  of  Con- 
egliano,  the  Duke  of  L(3vis,  the  Duke  of  Duras,  the 
Duke  d'Aumont,  the  Duke  of  Luxembourg,  the 
Prince  of  Hohenlohe,  the  Duke  de  La  Vauguyon. 
In  the  left  column,  the  Marquis  of  Talaru,  the  Duke 
162 


CLOSE  OF  THE  SOJOURN  AT  RHEIMS        153 

of  Doudeauville,  the  Count  of  Vill^le,  the  Marshal 
Marquis  of  Lauristoii,  the  Count  Charles  de  Damas, 
the  Baron  Pasquier,  the  Duke  of  Blacas  d'Aulps, 
the  Marquis  of  Riviere,  the  Marshal  Duke  of  Reg- 
gio,  the  Duke  of  Dalberg,  the  Prince  de  Poix,  the 
Duke  de  Gramont,  Prince  Talleyrand,  the  Duke  de 
La  Rochefoucauld.  Then  came  the  Dauphin,  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  the  Duke  of  Bourbon,  the  King. 

The  vestments  of  the  monarch,  of  a  silver  stuff, 
were  covered  by  a  mantle  of  the  order  in  black  velvet, 
lined  with  green  silk  stitched  with  gold.  His  head- 
dress was  also  in  black  velvet,  surmounted  by  an 
aigrette  of  heron  plumes.  The  knights  of  the  order 
had  their  mantles  with  the  Holy  Spirit  in  silver  span- 
gles on  the  shoulder ;  the  grand  collar,  the  facings  of 
their  mantles,  caught  up  in  front,  were  of  green  vel- 
vet sown  with  gold  flames.  They  made  their  entry 
into  the  Cathedral  in  two  columns,  which  deployed 
on  either  side  of  the  altar.  The  King,  who  followed 
them,  seated  himself  on  a  tlu-one  in  the  choir  and 
they  arranged  themselves  in  their  stalls  to  the  right 
and  left.  The  princesses  occupied  the  same  gallery 
as  the  day  before.  The  clergy  chanted  the  vespers. 
Then  the  two  columns  formed  in  a  double  rank  and 
the  ceremony  commenced.  There  was  a  long  series 
of  obeisances.  The  King  made  twenty  himself, 
eleven  before  vespers,  nine  after.  The  reception 
began  with  the  ecclesiastical  commanders  and  the 
laymen  came  afterwards. 

The  solemnity  was  less  imposing  than  that  of  the 


164  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

coronation.  Count  d'Haussonville  remarked  it: 
"  The  military  array  of  so  many  marshals  and  gen- 
erals clad  ill  brilliant  uniforms,  the  pomp  of  the  cere- 
monies to  the  slow  and  majestic  sound  of  the  organ 
filling  the  vast  nave  of  the  church,  had  succeeded, 
the  preceding  day,  in  redeeming  for  the  spectators, 
and  for  me  particularly,  whatever  was  a  little  super- 
annuated in  the  minute  observance  of  a  ritual  that 
had  come  down  from  the  Middle  Ages.  I  felt  my- 
self, on  the  contrary,  rather  surprised  than  edified  by 
the  character,  partly  religious,  partly  worldly,  but  far 
more  worldly  than  religious,  that  I  witnessed  on  the 
morrow.  Most  of  these  gentlemen  were  known  to 
me.  I  had  met  nearly  all  of  them  in  my  mother's  or 
grandmother's  salon.  I  had  not  been  insensible  to 
the  fine  air  given  them  by  the  cordon  bleu  (worn 
under  the  frock  coat,  usually,  or  on  great  occasions 
over  a  coat  covered  with  gold  lace  and  shining  deco- 
rations), the  traditional  object  of  ambition  for  those 
most  in  favor  at  court ;  but  they  seemed  to  me  to  pre- 
sent a  constrained  figure,  as  I  saw  them  soberly  ranged 
in  the  stalls  of  the  canons,  clad  in  a  costume  of  no 
particular  epoch,  wrapped  in  long  mantles  of  motley 
color,  and  following,  with  a  distracted  air,  the  phases 
of  a  ceremony  to  which  they  were  so  little  accustomed 
that  they  were  constantly  rising,  sitting  down,  and 
kneeling  at  the  wrong  time." 

The  receptions  took  place  as  follows :  the  herald- 
at-arms  of  the  order  called  in  groups  of  four  the 
new  members  from  each  column,  and  escorted  them 


CLOSE  OF  THE  SOJOURN  AT  RIIEIMS        155 

to  the  middle  of  the  sanctuary.  There  the  four 
knights,  abreast,  saluted  together,  first  the  altar,  then 
the  sovereign.  Then  they  advanced  in  line  toward 
the  throne,  and  after  a  second  obeisance,  knelt,  placed 
the  right  hand  on  the  book  of  the  Gospels  spread  out 
on  the  knees  of  the  monarch,  and  took  the  oath.  The 
King  decorated  each  with  his  own  hand.  He  passed 
over  their  coats,  from  right  to  left,  the  cordon  bleu 
with  the  cross  of  gold  suspended  from  it,  placed  the 
collar  on  the  mantle,  gave  a  book  of  hours  and  a  dec- 
astich  to  each  one,  who  kissed  his  hand,  rose,  and 
returned  to  his  place. 

By  a  curious  coincidence,  M.  de  Chateaubriand 
and  M.  de  Villele,  two  inveterate  adversaries,  were 
one  in  the  column  on  the  right,  the  other  in  that  on 
the  left,  and  the  herald-at-arms  of  the  order  called 
both  at  once  to  the  foot  of  the  throne.  Listen  to  the 
author  of  the  Memoires  d'outre-tomhe  :  — 

"  I  found  myself  kneeling  at  the  feet  of  the  King 
at  the  moment  that  M.  de  Villele  was  taking  the 
oath.  I  exchanged  a  few  words  of  politeness  with 
my  companion  in  knighthood,  apropos  of  a  plume 
detached  from  my  hat.  We  quitted  the  knees  of  the 
King,  and  all  was  finished.  The  King,  having  had 
some  trouble  in  removing  his  gloves  to  take  my 
hands  in  his,  had  said  to  me,  laughing,  'A  gloved  cat 
catches  no  mice. '  It  was  thought  that  he  had  spoken 
to  me  for  a  long  time,  and  the  rumor  spread  of  my 
nascent  favor.  It  is  likely  that  Charles  X.,  thinking 
that  the  Archbishop  had  told  me  of  his  favorable  sen- 


156  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

timents,  expected  a  word  of  thanks  and  that  he  was 
shocked  at  my  silence." 

The  ceremony  of  the  reception  of  the  knights  once 
finished,  the  King  quitted  his  throne  in  the  sanct- 
uary, after  having  made  the  required  obeisances. 
The  completory  was  next  sung.  Then  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  order  re-escorted  the  monarch  to  his  apart- 
ments in  the  same  order  and  with  the  same  ceremony 
that  he  had  been  escorted  to  the  Cathedral. 

After  the  ceremony,  Charles  X.  held  a  chapter  of 
the  order,  in  which  he  named  twenty-one  cordons 
bleus:  the  Dukes  d'Uzes,  de  Chevreuse,  de  Boissac, 
de  Mortemart,  de  Fitz-James,  de  Lorges,  de  Poli- 
gnac,  de  Maill^,  de  Castries,  de  Narbonne,  the  Mar- 
shal Count  Jordan,  the  Marshal  Duke  of  Dalmatia, 
the  Marshal  Duke  of  Treviso,  the  Marquis  de  la 
Suze,  the  Marquis  de  Br^z^,  Marquis  de  Pastoret, 
Count  de  La  Ferronays,  Viscount  d'Agoult,  Marquis 
d'Autichamp,  Ravez,  Count  Juste  de  Noailles.  By 
an  ordinance  of  the  same  day  he  named  to  be  Dukes, 
the  Count  Charles  de  Damas,  Count  d'Escars,  and 
the  Marquis  de  Riviere. 

The  next  day,  May  31,  the  King  after  having  heard 
Mass  in  his  apartments,  left  the  palace  at  ten  o'clock 
with  a  brilliant  cortege.  Preceded  by  the  hussars  of 
the  guard,  and  by  the  pages,  and  followed  by  a 
numerous  staff,  he  was  in  the  uniform  of  a  general 
officer,  on  a  white  horse,  whose  saddle  of  scarlet  vel- 
vet was  ornamented  with  embroideries  and  fringe 
of  gold.    He  had  at  his  right  the  Dauphin  on  a  white 


CLOSE  OF  THE  SOJOURN  AT  RIIEIMS        157 

horse,  and  the  Duke  of  Bourbon  on  a  bay  horse ;  at 
his  left  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  wore  the  uniform 
of  a  colonel-general  of  hussars,  and  rode  an  iron-gray 
horse.  Following  the  cortege  was  an  open  carriage ; 
at  the  back  the  Dauphiness  with  the  Duchess  of 
Berry  at  her  left,  and  in  front  the  Duchess  of  Or- 
leans and  Madame  of  Orleans,  her  sister-in-law.  The 
route  lay  through  an  immense  crowd  to  the  Hospital 
of  Saint  Marcoul.  When  he  arrived  there,  the  King 
dismounted  and  offered  up  a  prayer  in  the  chapel. 
Then  he  ascended  to  the  halls,  where  were  assembled 
one  hundred  and  twenty-one  scrofulous  patients.  He 
touched  them,  making  a  cross  with  his  finger  on  the 
brow,  while  the  first  physician  held  the  head  and  the 
captain  of  the  guard  the  hand.  The  King  said  to 
each:  "May  God  heal  thee!  The  King  touches 
thee!  "  Then  he  thanked  the  sisters  who  had  charge 
of  the  hospital  for  all  the  care  they  gave  to  the  solac- 
ing of  suffering  humanity.  The  pious  sisters  knelt 
at  the  feet  of  the  sovereign,  and  begged  his  benedic- 
tion, according  to  an  ancient  custom.  The  King 
gave  it  to  them,  and  allowed  them  to  kiss  his  hand. 
The  holy  women  wept  with  joy. 

Charles  X.,  followed  by  his  cortege,  next  proceeded 
to  the  abbey  of  Saint  Remi,  which  dates  from  the 
eleventh  century,  and  performed  his  devotions  on  the 
tomb  of  the  saint  whose  shrine  had  been  discovered. 
Then  he  remounted  and  went  to  review  the  troops  of 
the  camp  of  Saint  Leonard,  under  the  walls  of  the 
city,  in  a  vast  plain,  along  the  river  Vesle,  on  the 


158  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

riffht  of  the  road  to  Chalons.  In  the  midst  of  this 
phiin  rises  a  grassy  hillock,  above  which  was  placed 
the  portrait  of  the  King ;  below,  on  a  background  of 
soil,  was  this  inscription  in  bluets  and  margue- 
rites, — 

"  A  moment  in  the  camp  —  always  in  our  hearts." 

Not  far  from  there  an  altar  had  been  erected  under 
a  tent  before  the  royal  tent.  All  the  road  from  Cha- 
lons, opposite  the  lines,  was  covered  with  a  shouting 
and  cheering  crowd.  Charles  X.  was  accompanied 
by  the  princes  and  a  brilliant  staff.  The  carriage  of 
the  princesses  followed  him.  He  distributed  to  the 
officers,  sub-officers,  and  soldiers  the  crosses  of  the 
Legion  of  Honor  which  he  had  accorded  to  them. 
The  review,  which  was  magnificent,  lasted  from  noon 
to  3  P.M.  Before  returning  to  the  palace,  the  sover- 
eign visited  the  bazaar  established  along  the  prome- 
nades of  the  lawn.  He  dismounted,  and  the  princesses 
descended  from  their  carriage  to  traverse  the  shops. 

At  five  o'clock  the  cortege,  which  had  set  out  at 
10  A.M.,  returned  to  the  palace.  On  each  of  the  four 
niglits  that  Charles  X.  passed  at  Rheims,  the  streets 
of  the  city  were  illuminated.  It  was  clear  weather, 
and  by  the  light  of  the  illuminations,  amid  the  crowd 
in  the  streets,  there  were  everywhere  to  be  seen  the 
generals,  the  officers  of  the  King's  household,  and  the 
great  personages  of  the  court  in  grand  uniform. 
Charles  X.  set  out  from  Rheims  the  morning  of  June 
1,  and  the  city,  after  some  days  of  dazzling  pomp, 


CLOSE  OF  THE  SOJOURN  AT  BUEIMS        159 

resumed  its  accustomed  calm.  Things  had  passed 
off  well,  and  the  monarch  was  fully  satisfied. 

The  poets  had  tuned  their  lyres.  Barthdlemy, 
himself,  the  future  author  of  the  Nemesis,  celebrated 
in  enthusiastic  verses  the  monarchical  and  religious 
solemnity;  Lamartine,  future  founder  of  the  Second 
Republic,  published  Le  Chant  du  Sacre  ou  la  Veillee 
des  Armes ;  Victor  Hugo,  the  future  idol  of  the 
democracy,  sang  his  dithyrambic  songs.  Yet,  in  this 
concert  of  enthusiasm  there  were  some  discordant 
notes.  Beranger  circulated  his  ironic  song  Le  Sacre 
de  Charles  le  Simple. 

As  for  Chateaubriand,  the  most  illustrious  of  the 
royalist  writers,  he  was  to  close  his  chapter  of  the 
Memoires  d^ outre-tombe  as  follows :  — 

"  So  I  have  witnessed  the  last  consecration  of  the 
successors  of  Clovis.  I  had  brought  it  about  by  the 
pages  in  which  in  my  pamphlet,  Le  lioi  est  mort/ 
Vive  le  Roi!  I  had  described  it  and  solicited  it.  Not 
that  I  had  the  least  faith  in  the  ceremony,  but  as 
everything  was  wanting  to  legitimacy,  it  had  to  be 
sustained  by  every  means,  whatever  it  might  be 
worth." 


XVI 

THE  KE-ENTEANCE  INTO  PARIS 

CHARLES  X.  made  a  solemn  re-entrance  into 
Paris,  June  6,  1825.  According  to  the  Moni- 
teur,  Paris  was  divided  between  a  lively  desire  for 
the  day  to  come  and  fear  that  the  weather,  constantly 
rainy,  should  spoil  the  splendor  of  the  royal  pomp. 
At  the  barrier  of  La  Villette  there  had  been  erected 
amphitheatres  and  a  triumphal  arch.  The  streets 
were  hung  with  white  flags  and  the  arms  of  the  sov- 
ereign, with  the  inscription :  "  Long  live  Charles  X. ! 
Long  live  our  well-beloved  King !  "  The  Rue  Saint 
Denis,  the  Rue  du  Roule,  the  Rue  Saint  Honor^, 
presented  a  picturesque  spectacle.  The  merchants 
of  these  business  streets  had  converted  the  fagades  of 
their  houses  into  an  exposition  of  the  rich  tissues  of 
their  shops,  and  the  cortege  was  thus  to  traverse  a 
sort  of  bazaar.  What  a  pity  if  the  rain  was  going  to 
spoil  so  many  fine  preparations !  By  a  good  luck,  on 
which  every  one  congratulated  himself,  the  weather 
in  the  morning  ceased  its  gloomy  look,  and  a  mer- 
chant of  the  Rue  Saint  Denis  inscribed  on  his  balcony 
these  two  celebrated  lines,  — 

"Nocte  pluit  tota,  redeunt  spectacula  mane, 
Divisum  iniperium  cum  Jove  Caesar  habet." 
160 


THE  HE-ENTBANCE  INTO  PARIS  1(31 


At  1  P.M.  a  salvo  of  one  hundi-ed  and  one  guns 
announced  the  arrival  of  the  monarch  at  the  barrier 
of  La  Villette.  The  Prefect  of  the  Seine  addi-essed 
him  an  allocution  and  presented  him  the  keys  of  the 
city.  The  King  responded:  " I  feel  a  great  satisfac- 
tion in  re-entering  these  walls.  I  always  recall  with 
lively  emotion  the  reception  given  me  eleven  years 
ago  when  I  preceded  the  King,  my  brother.  I  return 
here,  having  received  the  holy  unction  that  has  given 
me  new  strength.  I  consecrate  it  all,  and  all  that  I 
have  of  life  and  all  my  resources,  to  the  happiness  of 
France.  It  is  my  firm  resolve,  gentlemen,  and  I  give 
you  the  assurance  of  it." 

The  cortege  then  took  wp  its  march.  It  was  formed 
of  a  squadron  of  gendarmerie,  several  squadi-ons  of 
the  lancers  and  cuirassiers  of  the  royal  guard,  the 
mounted  National  Guard  of  Paris,  the  staff  of  the 
garrison  and  of  the  first  military  division,  a  numerous 
group  of  general  and  superior  officers. 

The  Count  d'PIaussonville  wrote  on  the  subject:  — 

"  I  was  in  the  cortege,  and  as  the  staff  of  the  Na- 
tional Guard  followed  pretty  close  to  the  royal  car- 
riage, I  had  occasion  to  note  how  far  below  what  had 
been  hoped  was  the  reception  at  the  gate  of  La  Vil- 
lette, where  a  trium^^hal  arch  had  been  erected. 
Some  groups,  plainly  soldiers,  after  the  discourse  of 
the  Prefect  of  Paris  and  the  response  of  the  King, 
uttered  some  huzzas  that  found  no  echo.  When  we 
approached  the  boulevards,  the  public  warmed  up  a 
little.      The  windows  were  lined  with  women,  of 


162  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

whom  the  greater  number  waved  their  handkerchiefs 
in  sign  of  welcome.  Around  Notre-Dame,  whither 
the  cortege  jDroceeded  on  its  way  to  the  Tuileries,  the 
crowd  was  enormous  behind  the  line  of  soldiers 
charged  with  restraining  it.  There  was  nothing 
offensive  in  their  remarks;  neither  was  there  any 
emotion  or  sympathy.  The  magnificence  of  the  equi- 
pages and  the  costumes,  the  beauty  of  the  military 
uniforms,  particularly  of  the  corps  d^elite^  such  as 
the  Hundred  Swiss  and  the  body-guard,  were  the  only 
things  spoken  of.  The  spectators  sought  to  guess 
and  name  to  each  other  the  prominent  persons." 

During  the  passage  the  King  received  bouquets 
offered  him  by  the  market  men  and  women,  as  well 
as  by  a  number  of  workmen's  corporations  preceded 
by  their  banners.  At  the  entrance  of  the  Cathedral 
he  was  congratulated  by  the  Archbishop  of  Paris 
at  the  head  of  the  clergy.  A  Te  Deum  was  sung  and 
the  Marche  du  Sacre  of  Lesueur  was  played.  Then 
the  King  returned  to  his  carriage  and  directed  his 
course  to  the  Tuileries. 

As  the  cortege  drew  near  to  the  Chateau,  the  wel- 
come grew  more  and  more  cordial.  The  balconies 
of  many  of  the  houses  were  draped.  Women  of  the 
court,  in  rich  toilet,  threw  bouquets  and  flowers  to 
the  King.     The  Count  d'Haussonville  says:  — 

"  The  untiring  good  grace  with  which  the  King 
returned  the  salutations  of  the  crowd,  and  by  gestures 
full  of  bonhomie  and  affability,  responded  to  the  cries 
of  persons  whom  he  recognized  as  he  passed,  added 


THE  RE-ENTRANCE  INTO  PARIS  163 

every  moment  to  his  personal  success.  In  fact,  when, 
June  6,  1825,  at  evening,  he  descended  from  the 
magnificent  coronation  coach,  to  mount  the  stairs  of 
the  palace  of  his  fathers,  Charles  X.  had  reason  to  be 
content  with  the  day.  I  doubt  whether  among  the 
witnesses  of  the  splendid  fetes  that  had  followed 
without  interruption  at  Rheims  and  at  Paris,  there 
were  many  who  would  not  have  been  strongly  sur- 
prised if  there  had  been  announced  to  them  by  what 
a  catastrophe,  in  five  years  only,  an  end  was  to  be 
put  to  the  reign  inaugurated  under  the  happiest 
auspices." 

The  8th  of  June,  the  city  of  Paris  offered  to  the 
King  a  fete  at  which  there  were  eight  thousand 
guests.  The  sovereign  made  his  entry,  having  the 
Dauphiness  on  his  right,  and  on  the  left  the  Duchess 
of  Berry,  who  opened  the  ball.  A  cantata  was  sung 
with  words  by  Alexandre  Soumet,  and  the  music  by 
Lesueur. 

The  10th  of  June,  the  King  went  to  the  Opera 
with  the  Dauphin,  the  Dauphiness,  and  the  Duchess 
of  Berry.  The  back  of  the  stage  opened  and  showed, 
in  an  immense  perspective,  the  most  illustrious  kings 
of  France;  at  the  farthest  line  were  the  statue  of 
Henry  IV.,  Paris,  its  monuments,  the  Louvre.  The 
19th  of  June,  Charles  X.  again  accompanied  by  the 
family  went  to  the  Thdatre-Italien.  21  viaggio  a 
Reims  was  played.  Le  31oniteur,  apropos  of  this 
work,  said:  — 

"  It  is  an  opera  of  a  mould  which,  under  the  forms 


164  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEERY 

of  the  Opera  huffa^  presents  some  ideas  not  destitute 
of  comedy,  in  which  homage  of  love  and  respect 
is  at  times  expressed  with  an  art  that  French 
taste  cannot  disavow.  The  author,  M.  Bellochi,  has 
conceived  the  praiseworthy  idea  of  introducing  per- 
sonages of  all  the  nations  of  Europe,  joining  with 
the  French  in  their  prayers  for  the  happiness  of  our 
country  and  of  the  august  family  that  governs  us. 
The  composer  is  M.  Rossini.  The  moreeaux  are 
worthy  of  the  reputation  of  this  celebrated  master. 
Madame  Pasta  displayed  all  the  resources  of  her 
admirable  talent.  Bouquets  of  roses  and  lilies  were 
distributed  to  the  ladies." 

There  was  an  endless  series  of  fetes,  receptions, 
balls  at  court,  at  the  houses  of  the  ministers  of  the 
foreign  ambassador,  theatrical  representations  retrac- 
ingf  the  incidents  of  the  coronation.  The  cities  of 
the  provinces  imitated  the  example  of  Paris.  All 
this  movement  stimulated  business,  and  France  ap- 
peared happy.  But  to  an  acute  observer  it  was  plain 
that  the  pomps  of  the  coronation  and  the  fetes  that 
followed  it  pleased  the  people  of  the  court  more  than 
the  bourgeoisie.  The  Count  d'Haussonville  says, 
apropos  of  the  nobility  at  that  time :  — 

"  I  had  the  feeling  —  educated  as  I  was  at  college, 
and  provided  early  with  a  sort  of  precocious  expe- 
rience, the  precious  fruit  of  public  education  —  that 
the  nobility  was  a  world  a  little  apart.  I  instinc- 
tively perceived  how  much  the  preoccupations  of  the 
persons  with  whom  I  was  then  passing  my  time  were 


THE  BE-ENTRANCE  INTO  PARIS  165 

of  a  nature  particular,  special  to  their  class,  not  op- 
posed —  that  would  be  saying  too  much  certainly  — 
but  a  little  foreign  to  the  great  currents  that  swayed 
the  opinion  of  their  contemporaries.  They  had  their 
way  of  loving  the  King  and  their  country  which  was 
not  very  comprehensible,  nor  even,  perhaps,  very 
acceptable,  to  the  mass  of  the  people  and  the  bour- 
geois classes,  who  were  rather  inclined  to  remain 
cold  or  even  sullen  in  the  presence  of  certain  mani- 
festations of  an  ultra-royalism,  the  outward  signs  of 
which  were  not  always  at  this  time  entirely  circum- 
spect." 

To  one  regarding  the  horizon  attentively  there 
were  already  some  dark  spots  on  the  bright  azure 
of  the  heavens.  The  struggles  of  the  rival  classes  of 
French  society  existed  in  a  latent  state.  The  white 
flag  had  not  made  the  tricolor  forgotten.  Charles  X., 
consecrated  by  an  archbishop,  did  not  efface  the 
memory  of  Napoleon  crowned  by  a  pope,  and  beneath 
royalist  France  were  pressing  upward  already  Bona- 
partist  France  and  Revolutionary  France. 


XVII 

THE  JUBILEE   OF   1826 

THE  dominant  quality  of  Charles  X.,  his  piety, 
was  the  one  that  was  to  be  most  used  against 
him.  There  was  in  this  piety  nothing  morose, 
hypocritical,  fanatical,  and  not  an  idea  of  intoler- 
ance or  persecution  mingled  with  it.  Conviction 
and  feeling  united  in  the  heart  of  the  King  to 
inspire  him  with  profound  faith.  In  1803,  before 
the  death-bed  of  a  beloved  woman,  he  had  sworn  to 
renounce  earthly  for  divine  love,  and  from  that  time 
he  had  kept  his  vow.  The  woman  by  whom  this  con- 
version was  made  was  the  sister-in-law  of  the  Duch- 
ess of  Polignac,  Louise  d'Esparbes,  Viscountess  of 
Polastron.  The  Duchess  of  Gontaut  recounts  in 
her  unpublished  Memoirs  the  touching  and  pathetic 
scene  of  the  supreme  adieu  of  this  charming  woman 
and  of  Charles  X.,  then  Count  d'Artois.  It  was  in 
England  during  the  Emigration.  The  Viscountess 
of  Polastron  was  dying  with  consumption,  and  the 
approach  of  the  end  reawakened  in  her  all  the  piety 
of  her  childhood.  A  holy  priest,  the  Abb^  de  Latil, 
demanded  the  departure  of  the  Prince.  "  I  implore 
Monseigneur,"  he  said,  "to  go  into  the  country;  you 
166 


THE  JUBILEE  OF  1826  167 

shall  see  tlie  poor  penitent  again ;  she  herself  desires 
it,  having  one  word  to  say  to  you,  one  favor  to  ask, 
but  it  cannot  be  until  at  the  moment  of  death." 

The  Prince,  who,  even  at  the  time  of  his  greatest 
errors,  had  never  ceased  to  love  and  honor  religion, 
obeyed  the  command  of  the  priest.  He  awaited  in 
cruel  anguish  the  hour  when  he  should  be  permitted 
to  return.  It  was  authorized  only  when  death  was 
very  near.     The  Duchess  of  Gontaut  says :  — 

"  The  doors  of  the  salon  were  opened.  Monsieur 
dared  not  approach;  I  was  near  the  dying  woman  and 
held  her  hand;  it  was  trembling.  She  perceived 
Monsieur.  He  was  about  to  rush  toward  her.  'Come 
no  nearer,'  said  the  Abb^,  in  a  firm  voice.  Mon- 
sieur did  not  venture  to  cross  the  threshold.  The 
agitation  redoubled ;  the  agony  increased.  She  raised 
her  hands  to  heaven,  and  said :  — • 

'"One  favor,  Monseigneur,  one  favor  —  live  for 
God,  all  for  God.' 

"He  fell  upon  his  knees,  and  said:  'I  swear  it, 
God!'  She  said  again,  'All  for  God!'  Her  head 
fell  on  my  shoulder;  this  last  word  was  her  last 
breath:  she  was  no  more.  Monsieur  raised  his  arms 
to  heaven,  uttered  a  horrible  cry:  the  door  was 
closed." 

The  Count  d'Artois  was  then  but  forty-five,  but 
from  that  day  he  never  gave  occasion  for  the  least 
scandal,  and  led  an  exemplary  life.  As  Louis  XIV. 
had  held  in  profound  esteem  the  courageous  prelates 
who    adjured   him    to    break    witli    his    mistresses, 


168  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

Charles  X.  was  attached  to  the  truly  Christian  priest 
who  had  converted  him  by  the  death-bed  of  the  Vis- 
countess of  Polastron.  The  Abb^  de  Latil,  the 
obscure  ecclesiastic  of  the  Emigration,  became,  under 
the  Restoration,  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims  and  Car- 
dinal. It  was  not  without  profound  emotion  that 
the  very  Christian  King  saw  himself  consecrated  bj-^ 
the  priest  who  twenty -two  years  before  had  caused 
him  to  return  to  virtue.  This  memory  was  imposed 
on  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  monarch,  and  under  the 
vault  of  the  ancient  Cathedral,  he  certainly  thought 
of  Madame  de  Polastron,  as  of  a  good  angel,  who, 
from  the  height  of  heaven,  watched  over  him,  and 
who,  by  her  prayers,  had  aided  him  to  traverse  so 
many  trials,  to  reach  the  religious  triumph  of  the 
coronation. 

Charles  X.  was  happy  then.  Profoundly  sincere 
in  his  ardent  desire  to  make  France  happy,  he  believed 
himself  at  one  with  God  and  with  his  people,  and  re- 
joiced in  that  supreme  good,  so  often  wanting  to  sov- 
ereigns, —  peace  of  heart.  Could  he  be  reproached 
for  having  taken  the  ceremony  of  his  coronation 
seriously?  A  king  who  does  not  believe  in  his 
royalty  is  no  more  to  be  respected  than  a  priest  who 
does  not  believe  in  his  religion.  Charles  X.  was 
convinced,  as  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims  had  said  in 
his  letter  of  29th  May,  1825,  that  kings  exercise  over 
their  subjects  the  power  of  God  Himself,  and  that 
they  have  that  sacred  majesty,  upon  which,  in  the 
fine  expression  of   Bossuet,   God,  for  the  good  of 


THE  JUBILEE  OF  1826  169 

things  human,  causes  to  shine  a  portion  of  the  splen- 
dor of  divine  majesty. 

This  disposition  of  mind  in  Charles  X.  fortified  his 
piety,  so  that,  at  the  time  of  the  jubilee  of  1826,  he 
seized  eagerly  the  opportunity  to  affirm  his  religious 
faith,  and  to  return  thanks  to  the  God  of  his  fathers, 
who  at  this  epoch  of  his  life  was  loading  him  with 
favors. 

The  jubilee  is  a  time  of  penitence  and  pardon, 
when  the  Pope  accords  plenary  indulgence  to  all 
Catholics  who  submit  to  certain  practices  and  assist 
at  certain  pious  ceremonies.  The  grand  jubilee  was 
formerly  celebrated  only  once  in  a  hundred  years; 
afterwards  it  took  place  every  fifty,  and  then  every 
twenty-five  years.  1825  was  the  time  of  its  first 
celebration  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  it  cbew  to 
Rome  that  year  more  than  ten  thousand  pilgrims. 
The  Pope  had  celebrated  the  close  of  it  the  24th  of 
December,  1825,  but  yielding  to  the  prayeis  of  sev- 
eral Catholic  powers,  he  accorded  to  them,  by  special 
bulls,  the  privilege  of  celebrating  the  same  solemnity 
in  1826. 

The  opening  of  the  French  jubilee  took  place  Feb- 
ruary 15,  1826,  at  Notre-Dame  de  Paris.  The  papal 
bull,  borne  on  a  rich  cushion,  was  remitted  to  the 
Archbishop  for  public  reading.  The  nuncio  chanted 
the  Veni  Creator.  Mass  was  said  by  the  Cardinal, 
Prince  of  Croi,  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  Grand  Almoner 
of  France.  The  relics  of  the  apostles  Saint  Peter 
and  Saint  Paul  were  borne  around  the  Place  du  Par- 


170  TnS  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

vis,  in  the  midst  of  a  cortege,  in  wliicli  were  present 
the  marshals  of  France,  the  generals,  and  the  four 
princesses.  The  order  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris 
prescribed  four  general  processions.  The  first  took 
place  with  great  pomp  the  17th  of  March,  1826. 
The  King  and  the  royal  family,  the  princes  and 
princesses  of  the  blood,  all  the  court,  the  marshals,  a 
multitude  of  high  functionaries,  peers  of  France, 
deputies,  officers,  assisted  at  this  ceremony  in  which 
appeared  the  Archbishop  of  Paris  and  his  grand 
vicars,  the  metropolitan  chapter,  the  pupils  of  all  the 
seminaries  in  surplice,  the  priests  of  all  the  Paris 
churches  with  their  sacerdotal  armaments.  It  was  a 
veritable  army  of  ecclesiastics  that  traversed  the  cap- 
ital. In  the  midst  of  the  cortege,  the  reliquary 
containing  the  relics  of  Saint  Peter  and  Saint  Paul 
was  the  object  of  the  devotion  of  the  faithful.  Sur- 
rounded by  the  Dauphin,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  the 
young  Duke  of  Chartres,  the  great  officers  of  the 
crown,  of  the  Hundred  Swiss,  and  of  the  body-guard, 
Charles  X.,  in  a  costume  half  religious,  half  mili- 
tary, walked  between  a  double  hedge  formed  by  the 
royal  guard  and  the  troops  of  the  line.  The  Place 
du  Parvis-Notre-Dame  was  hung  with  draperies  in 
fleur-de-lis,  and  all  the  streets  to  be  traversed  by  the 
procession  had  been  di-aped  and  sanded.  The  first 
stop  of  the  cortege  was  under  the  peristyle  of  the 
Hotel-Dieu,  where  an  altar  had  been  erected;  the 
second,  at  the  Church  of  the  Sorbonne ;  the  third,  at 
that  of  Sainte  Genevieve.     The  two  other  proces- 


THE  JUBILEE  OF  1S26  171 

sions  had  no  less  eclat,  and  their  pauses  being  fixed 
in  the  churches  of  the  principal  parishes,  they  passed 
tlu'ough  the  busiest  and  most  populous  quarters  of 
Paris. 

The  fourth  and  last  procession,  that  of  the  3d  of 
May,  was  the  most  important  of  all.  It  was  to  close 
by  an  expiatory  ceremony  in  honor  of  Louis  XVI., 
by  the  laying  and  benediction  of  the  corner-stone  of 
the  monument  voted  by  the  Chamber  of  1815,  and 
which  still  awaited  its  foundation.  It  is  at  the  very 
place  where  the  unfortunate  sovereign  had  been  exe- 
cuted that  the  monument  was  to  be  constructed. 
The  cortege  left  Notre-Dame  and  directed  its  course . 
first  to  the  Church  of  Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois. 
The  Chamber  of  Peers,  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  all 
the  functionaries,  all  the  authorities  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Seine,  followed  the  King  and  Dauphin, 
who  advanced,  accompanied  by  the  ministers,  the 
marshals,  the  officers  of  their  houses,  cordons  Ileus, 
cordo7is  rouges.  Never  since  the  end  of  the  old 
regime  had  such  a  multitude  of  priests  been  seen  de- 
filing through  the  streets  of  Paris.  The  pupils  of 
all  the  seminaries,  the  almoners  of  all  the  colleges, 
the  priests  of  all  the  parishes  and  .all  the  chapels, 
stretched  out  in  an  endless  double  line,  at  the  end 
of  which  appeared  the  Nuncio  of  the  Pope,  Cardinals 
de  Latil,  de  Croi,  and  de  La  Fare,  the  Archbishop  of 
Paris,  and  a  crowd  of  prelates.  After  the  station  of 
Saint-Germain-FAuxerrois,  there  was  a  second  at 
Saint-Roch,  then  a  third  and  last  at  the  Assumption. 


172  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEBEY 

When  the  special  prayers  of  the  close  of  the  jubilee 
had  been  said  at  this  last  parish,  the  immense  cor- 
tege resumed  its  march  to  the  place  where  Louis 
XVI.  had  brought  his  head  to  the  sacrilegious  scaf- 
fold. The  day  chosen  for  the  expiatory  solemnity 
was  the  3d  of  May,  the  anniversary  of  the  return  of 
Louis  XVIII.  to  Paris  in  1814,  and  then  a  political 
idea  was  connected  with  the  religious  ceremony.  A 
vast  pavilion  surmounted  by  a  cross  hung  with  dra- 
peries in  violet  velvet,  and  enclosing  an  altar,  which 
was  reached  on  four  sides  by  four  stairways  of  ten 
steps  each,  occupied  the  very  place  where,  the  10th 
of  January,  1793,  the  scaffold  of  the  Martyr-King 
had  been  erected,  in  the  middle  of  the  Place  called 
successively  the  Place  Louis  XV.  and  the  Place  de 
La  Concorde,  and  which  was  thenceforth  to  be  called 
the  Place  Louis  XVI. 

The  account  in  the  Moniteur  says :  — 

"  A  first  salvo  of  artillery  announced  the  arrival  of 
the  procession.  It  presented  as  imposing  a  tableau 
as  could  be  contemplated.  This  old  French  nation 
—  the  heir  of  its  sixty  kings  at  the  head  —  marched, 
preceded  by  the  gifts  made  by  Charlemagne  to  the 
Church  of  Paris,  and  the  religious  trophies  that  Saint 
Louis  brought  from  the  holy  places.  The  priests 
ascend  to  the  altar.  Three  times  in  succession  they 
raise  to  heaven  the  cry  for  pardon  and  pity.  All  the 
spectators  fall  upon  their  knees.  A  profound,  abso- 
lute silence  reigns  about  the  altar  and  over  all  the 
Place ;  a  common  sorrow  overwhelms  the  people ;  the 
King's  eyes  are  filled  with  tears." 


THE  JUBILEE  OF  1826  173 

In  this  multitude  the  absence  of  the  Dauphiness, 
the  daughter  of  Louis  XVI.,  is  remarked.  The  Or- 
phan of  the  Temple  had  made  it  a  law  for  herself 
never  to  cross  the  place  where  her  father  had  per- 
ished. She  went  to  the  expiatory  chapel  of  the  Rue 
d'Anjou-Saint-Honor^,  to  pass  in  prayer  the  time  of 
the  ceremony. 

M.  de  Vaulabelle  makes  this  curious  compari- 
son :  — 

"  Behind  Charles  X.  there  knelt  his  Grand  Cham- 
berlain, Prince  Talleyrand,  covered  with  gleaming 
embroideries,  orders,  and  cordons.  It  was  the  eccle- 
siastical dignitary  whom  Paris  had  beheld  celebrating 
the  Mass  of  the  Federation  on  the  Champ-de-Mars, 
the  wedded  prelate  who,  as  Minister  of  the  Directory, 
had  for  some  years  observed  as  a  national  festival  the 
anniversary  of  this  same  execution,  now  the  subject 
of  so  many  tears." 

Religious  people  rejoiced  at  the  ceremony  that  was 
celebrated;  but  the  Voltairians  and  the  enemies  of 
royalty  complained  bitterly  at  the  sight  of  the  quays, 
the  streets,  the  squares  of  the  capital  furrowed  by 
long  files  of  priests,  chanting  psalms  and  litanies, 
dragging  devout  in  their  suite  the  King,  the  two 
Chambers,  the  judiciar}^  the  administration,  and  the 
army.  Yet  was  it  not  just  that  Charles  X.  should 
cause  an  expiatory  ceremony  to  be  celebrated  at  the 
place  where  his  unfortunate  brother  had  been  guil- 
lotined? Was  not  that  for  a  pious  sovereign  the 
accomplishment  of  a  sacred  duty?     It  matters  not; 


174  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

there  were  tliose  who  reproached  him  with  this  hom- 
age to  the  most  memorable  of  misfortunes.  They 
would  have  forbidden  to  Charles  X.  the  memory  of 
Louis  XVI.  Yet  a  king  could  hardly  be  asked  to 
have  the  sentiments  of  a  conventiomiel,  of  a  regicide. 
In  their  systematic  and  bitter  opposition,  the  adver- 
saries of  the  Restoration  imputed  to  the  royal  family 
as  a  crime  its  very  virtues  and  its  piety. 

Charles  X.  was  not  unaware  of  this  half-expressed 
hostility.  That  evening  he  wrote  to  M.  Villele, 
President  of  the  Council  of  Ministers :  — 

"  In  general  I  have  been  content  with  the  ceremony 
and  the  appearance  of  the  people ;  but  I  wish  to  know 
the  whole  truth,  and  I  charge  you  to  see  M.  Delavau, 
and  to  know  from  him  if  the  reality  corresponds  to 
appearances,  if  there  was  any  talk  against  the  govern- 
ment and  the  clergy.  I  wish  to  know  all,  and  I  trust 
to  you  to  leave  me  in  ignorance  of  nothing." 

M.  de  Villele  was  not  a  flatterer.  He  responded 
discreetly,  but  without  concealing  the  truth:  — 

"The  aspect  of  the  people,"  he  wrote,  "permitted 
tlie  thoughts  agitating  its  spirit  to  be  recognized. 
We  were  following  the  King  at  a  slight  distance  and 
could  judge  very  well  of  it.  It  was  easy  to  read  in 
all  eyes  that  the  people  were  hurt  at  seeing  the  King 
humbly  following  the  priests.  There  Avas  in  that 
not  so  much  irreligion  as  jealousy  and  animosity 
toward  the  r81e  played  by  the  clergy." 

It  might  have  been  asked,  in  these  circumstances, 
whether  the  criticisms  of  the  opposition  were  just. 


TEE  JUBILEE  OF  1826  175 

If  a  ceremony  was  to  be  observed,  such  as  the  laying 
and  blessing  the  corner-stone  of  an  expiatory  monu- 
ment, it  must  be  religious.  If  it  were  religious,  was 
not  the  presence  of  the  clergy  in  large  numbers 
natural  ? 

At  heart,  there  was  something  noble  and  touching 
in  the  thought  of  Charles  X.,  and  the  true  royalists 
sincerely  respected  it.  From  the  monarchical  point 
of  view,  a  monument  to  Louis  XVI.  had  much  more 
raison  d^etre  than  the  obelisk  since  erected  in  its 
place,  which  represents  nothing,  and  has,  moreover, 
the  inconvenience  of  obstructing  the  fine  perspective 
of  the  Champs  Elj-sees  and  the  Tuileries.  But  there 
were  two  camps  in  France,  and  these  processions, 
expiations,  prayers,  which,  according  to  the  royalist 
journals,  opened  a  new  era  of  sanctity,  glory,  and 
virtue,  exasperated  the  Voltairians.  The  opposition 
determined  to  make  of  the  King's  piety  a  weapon 
against  royalty. 

And  yet,  we  repeat,  this  piety  had  nothing  about 
it  not  worthy  of  respect.  As  the  Abbe  V^drenne  re- 
marks in  his  Vie  de  Charles  X. ,  this  Prince  "  had  a 
perfect  understanding  of  the  duties  and  convenances 
of  his  rank,  never  refused  his  presence  at  fetes  where 
it  was  desirable,  never  seemed  to  blame  or  fear  what 
a  sensible  indulgence  did  not  condemn  ;  he  loved  the 
charm  of  society,  and  increased  it  by  his  kindliness, 
but  he  was  not  dazzled  by  it.  He  remained  to  the 
end  the  most  amiable  prince  in  Europe,  but  he  was 
also  the  severest.     A  surprising  thing  in  a  convert, 


176  THE  DUCHESS  OF  hERBY 

his  religion  was  always  full  of  true  charity  for  others. 
He  excused  those  who  neglected  their  Christian 
duties,  remembering  his  delay  in  practising  his  own, 
without  ever  compromising  his  own  beliefs.  He 
sincerely  respected  the  good  faith  of  those  who  did 
not  share  them.  This  faith,  this  piety — ^a  legacy 
from  love  —  which  lie  guarded  so  faithfully,  was  the 
consolation  of  his  long  misfortunes  and  the  principle 
of  his  unchanging  serenity.  It  banished  even  the 
idea  of  hatred  from  his  heart.  Never  did  any  one 
forgive  as  he  did." 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  pamphleteers  and 
song-writers  of  the  Restoration,  violent,  unjust,  and 
even  cruel  as  they  were  toward  Charles  X.,  never 
breathed  an  insinuation  against  the  purity  of  his 
morals.  His  life  was  not  less  exemplary  than  that 
of  his  son,  the  Dauphin,  or  of  his  niece  and  daughter- 
in-law,  the  Orphan  of  the  Temple.  Despite  the  great 
piety  of  the  sovereign,  the  court  was  not  melancholy 
or  morose.  Charles  X.  had  a  foundation  of  benevo- 
lence and  gaiety  to  his  character.  He  was  not  sur- 
prised to  see  committed  about  him  the  gentle 
ts-espasses  of  love,  of  which  he  had  been  himself 
guilty  in  youth,  and  he  had  become  —  the  very  ideal 
of  wisdom  —  severe  for  himself,  indulgent  for  others. 


XVIII 

THE  DUCKKSS   OF   GONTAUT 

THE  Governess  of  the  Children  of  France  was 
the  Viscountess  of  Gontaut,  who,  as  a  recom- 
pense for  the  manner  in  which  she  had  accomplished 
her  task,  was  made  Duchess  by  Charles  X.  in  1826. 
Here  is  the  opening  of  her  unpublished  Memoirs :  — ■ 

"January,  1853.  To  Madame  the  Countess  and 
Monsieur  the  Count  Georges  Esterhazy.  My  dear 
children,  you  have  shown  a  desire  to  know  the  events 
of  my  long  life.  Wishing  to  teach  them  to  your 
children,  I  yield  to  this  amiable  and  tender  purpose, 
promising  myself,  meanwhile,  to  resist  the  too  com- 
mon charm  of  talking  pitilessly  about  myself.  I  shall 
search  my  memory  for  souvenirs  of  the  revolutions 
I  have  often  witnessed  to  give  interest  to  my  tales. 
One  writes  but  ill  at  eighty,  but  one  may  claim 
indulgence  from  hearts  to  which  one  is  devoted." 

The  amiable  and  intelligent  octogenarian  had  no 
need  of  indulgence.  Her  Memoirs  possess  irresisti- 
ble attraction,  grace,  exquisite  naturalness,  and  we 
are  convinced  that  when  they  are  published  —  as 
they  must  be  sooner  or  later  —  they  will  excite  uni- 
versal interest. 

177 


178  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

Born  at  Paris  in  1773,  the  Duchess  of  Gontaut  was 
the  daughter  of  Count  Montault-Navailles  and  of  the 
Countess,  nee  Coulommiers.  All  her  memories  of 
childhood  and  early  youth  were  connected  with  the 
old  court.  She  had  seen  Marie  Antoinette  in  all  her 
splendor,  Versailles  when  it  was  most  dazzling,  and 
she  was  formed  in  the  elegant  manners  of  that  charm- 
ing world  whose  social  prestige  was  so  great.  At 
seven  she  was  held  at  the  baptismal  font  by  the  Count 
of  Provence  (the  future  Louis  XVIII.)  and  by  the 
wife  of  this  Prince. 

"I  had  for  this  ceremony,"  she  says,  "a  grand 
habit  and  a  grand  panier.  I  was  so  proud  of  them 
that  I  caused  much  amusement  at  the  Queen's, 
whither  my  mother  took  me  after  the  baptism. 
Being  connected  with  the  Duchess  of  Polignac,  she 
often  took  me  to  Versailles;  there  I  saw  Madame 
Royale,  younger  than  I,  and  the  poor,  little,  hand- 
some, delightful  Dauphin.  The  Queen,  wishing  to 
give  them  a  little  fete,  organized  a  children's  spec- 
tacle, in  which  I  was  entrusted  with  a  part.  The 
piece  chosen  was  Ipliigeiiie  en  Aulide.  Mademoiselle 
de  Sabran  and  her  brother,  as  well  as  a  young  Stro- 
gonoif,  were,  it  is  said,  perfect  actors.  Armand  de 
Polignac  had  a  little  part.  Tragedy  was  not  my 
forte.  But  in  the  second  piece  I  achieved  a  little 
success,  which  the  Chevalier  de  Boufflers  was  kind 
enough  to  celebrate  in  a  very  bright  couplet,  sung  at 
the  close.  He  gave  me  the  name  of  the  Little  White 
Mouse.     After  that  the  Queen  called  me  her  little 


TEE  DUCHESS  OF  GONTAUT  179 

white  mouse,  and  showed  me  a  thousand  kindnesses. 
After  the  play  there  was  a  children's  supper;  the 
princes  waited  on  us  and  were  much  diverted  by  our 
enjoyment;  Louis  XVI.  stood  behind  my  chair  for 
a  moment,  and  even  gave  me  a  plate.  The  Queen 
sent  me  home  in  her  sedan  chair;  footmen  carried 
great  torches ;  the  body-guard  presented  arms  to  us. 
So  much  honor  would,  perhaps,  have  turned  my 
head,  but  for  my  prudent  mother  who  knew  how  to 
calm  it." 

The  sorrQws  of  exile  followed  rapidly  on  the  first 
enchantments  of  life.  It  was  in  England,  during 
the  Emigration,  that  the  future  Governess  of  the 
Children  of  France  married  M.  de  Saint-Blanchard, 
Viscount  de  Gontaut-Biron.  She  was  then  residing 
at  Epsom,  where  she  lived  on  the  proceeds  of  little 
pictures  which  she  painted.  She  gave  birth  to  twin 
daughters  October  9th,  1796.  "I  nursed  them 
both,"  she  says,  "our  means  not  permitting  us  to 
have  two  nurses  in  one  little  household,  and  I  felt 
strong  enough  for  this  double  task.  Brought  into 
the  world  at  seven  and  one-half  months,  their  frail 
existence  required  my  care  night  and  day."  In  1797, 
Madame  de  Gontaut  visited  Paris  under  a  false 
name,  and  after  this  journey,  on  which  she  ran  many 
risks,  she  returned  to  England,  where  she  was  the 
companion  in  exile  of  the  princes.  Monsieur,  the 
Count  d'Artois,  the  future  Charles  X.,  was  then 
pursued  by  his  creditors.  The  Castle  of  Holyrood, 
privileged  by  law,  sheltered  its  occupants  from  all 


180  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

legal  process.  That  is  why  the  Prince  Regent  offered 
its  hospitality  to  the  brother  of  Louis  XVIII.,  seek- 
ing in  every  way  to  soften  the  severity  of  the  old 
palace. 

"  But  the  saying  is  true, "  adds  Madame  de  Gon- 
taut,  "  that  there  are  no  pleasant  prisons.  The  Cas- 
tle of  Holyrood,  as  well  as  the  park,  was  spacious. 
The  governor  visited  there,  and  also  several  Scotch 
families,  very  agreeable  socially.  Monsieur  could 
not 'leave  the  limits '  except  on  Sunday,  when  the 
law  allows  no  arrest.  He  had  a  carriage  that  he 
loaned  to  us,  reserving  it  only  for  Sunday,  when  he 
was  out  from  morning  to  night.  To  these  excellent 
Scotch  people  a  visit  from  him  was  an  honor,  a  fes- 
tival. Our  little  society  comedies  amused  Monsieur 
as  much  as  us ;  I  always  had,  unluckily,  a  part  that 
I  never  knew;  I  could  never  in  my  life  learn  any- 
thing by  heart ;  I  listened,  filled  my  mind  with  the 
subject,  and  went  ahead,  to  the  great  amusement  of 
the  audience  and  the  despair  of  my  fellow-players." 
After  a  while  the  suits  against  the  Prince  came  to 
an  end,  and  he  could  quit  Holyrood,  his  debtor's 
prison. 

Madame  de  Gontaut  made  a  very  good  figure  at 
Louis  XVIII. 's  little  court  at  Hartwell.  By  her 
wit  and  her  tact,  she  won  the  friendship  of  all  the 
royal  family,  and  much  sympathy  in  high  English 
society.  She  returned  to  France  with  Louis  XVIII., 
and  no  lady  of  the  court  was  regarded  with  greater 
respect.    At  the  time  of  the  marriage  of  the  Duke  of 


THE  DUCHESS  OF  GONTAUT  181 

Berry,  she  became  lady  companion  to  the  new  Duch- 
ess, whom  she  went  to  meet  at  Marseilles. 

The  King,  Monsieur,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of 
Berry,  all  showed  equal  confidence  in  Madame  de 
Gontaut,  and  her  nomination  as  Governess  of  the 
Children  of  France  was  received  with  general  ap- 
proval and  sympathy.  A  woman  of  mind  and  heart, 
she  performed  her  task  with  as  much  zeal  as  iritelli- 
gence,  and  though  strict  with  her  two  pupils,  she 
made  herself  beloved  by  them.  She  especially  applied 
herself  to  guard  them  against  the  snares  of  flattery. 
On  this  subject  she  relates  a  characteristic  anecdote. 
One  day  a  family  that  had  been  recommended  to  her 
asked  the  favor  of  seeing,  if  only  for  a  moment,  the 
Duke  of  Bordeaux  and  his  sister.  The  two  children, 
vexed  at  having  to  leave  their  play,  were  not  commu- 
nicative, and  nevertheless  received  an  avalanche  of 
compliments.  The  visitors  were  in  ecstasy  over  their 
gentleness,  their  beauty.  They  admired  even  their 
hair.  These  exaggerations  embarrassed  the  children, 
who  were  full  of  frankness  and  directness,  and  dis- 
pleased Madame  de  Gontaut.  She  quickly  closed  the 
interview.  As  the  visitors  were  going  out,  a  half- 
open  door  allowed  the  little  Prince  and  Princess  to 
overhear  their  observations.  "It  was  not  worth 
while  to  come  so  far  to  see  so  little,"  said  an  old 
lady,  in  an  irritated  tone.  "  Oh,  as  to  that,  no,"  said 
a  big  boy,  "  they  hardly  had  two  words  of  response  for 
all  the  compliments  that  papa  and  mamma  strained 
themselves   to   give    them.      You   made    me   laugh, 


182  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

papa,  when  you  said,  'What  fine  color,  what  pretty- 
hair  I  '  She's  as  pale  as  an  egg  and  cropped  like  a 
boy."  —  "  That's  true,"  said  the  old  lady,  "  she  needs 
your  medicines,  doctor;  and  then  they  are  very  small 
for  their  age. "  —  "Did  you  see  the  governess?"  re- 
sumed the  big  boy.  "  She  did  not  seem  pleased  when 
you  complimented  her  on  the  docility  of  her  pupils, 
and  I  could  see  that  they  were  teasing  each  other." 
The  Duke  of  Bordeaux  and  his  sister,  who  heard 
all  this,  were  petrified.  "They  are  very  wicked!" 
they  cried.  "They  are  simply  flatterers,"  replied 
Madame  de  Gontaut.  Little  Mademoiselle  resumed : 
"After  having  praised  us  without  end,  and  telling 
us  a  hundred  times  that  we  were  pretty,  —  for  I 
heard  it  all  perfectly,  —  to  want  to  give  me  medicine 
because  I  was  so  homely  and  ill-looking!  Oh,  this 
is  too  much !  I  know  now  what  flattery  is,  —  to  say 
just  the  contrary  of  the  truth.  But  it's  a  sin.  I 
shall  always  remember  it!  " 

Madame  de  Gontaut  succeeded  beyond  her  hopes 
in  the  task  confided  to  her.  Morally  and  physically 
the  little  Prince  and  Princess  were  accomplished 
childi-en. 

The  moment  was  approaching  when  the  Duke  of 
Bordeaux,  born  September  20,  1820,  was  about  to 
begin  his  seventh  year.  That  was  the  period  fixed 
by  the  ancient  code  of  the  House  of  France  for  the 
young  Prince  to  pass  from  the  hands  of  women  to 
those  of  men,  who  were  thereafter  to  direct  his  edu- 
cation.    On  the  loth  of  October,  1826,  the  tiunsfer 


THE  DUKE  OF  BORDEAUX  AND  HIS  SISTER. 


TEE  DUCHESS   OF  GONTAUT  183 

was  made  of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  to  his  governor, 
the  Duke  de  Riviere,  at  the  Chateau  of  Saint  Cloud, 
in  the  Hall  of  the  Tlirone,  in  the  presence  of  all  the 
members  of  the  family,  the  first  officers  of  the  crown, 
etc.  The  child,  brought  by  his  governess  before  the 
King,  was  stripped  of  his  clothing  and  examined  by 
the  physicians,  who  attested  his  perfect  health. 
When  he  was  clad  again,  the  King  called  the  new 
governor  and  said  to  him:  "Duke  de  Riviere,  I  give 
you  a  great  proof  of  my  esteem  and  confidence  in 
remitting  to  you  the  care  of  the  child  given  us  by 
Providence  —  the  Child  of  France  also.  You  will 
bring  to  these  important  functions,  I  am  sure,  a  zeal 
and  a  prudence  that  will  give  you  the  right  to  my 
gratitude,  to  that  of  the  family,  and  to  that  of 
France." 

Charles  X.  then  turned  to  Madame  de  Gontaut, 
whom  he  had  just  named  Duchess  in  witness  of  his 
gratitude  and  satisfaction.  "Duchess  of  Gontaut," 
he  said,  "  I  thank  3'ou  for  the  care  you  have  given  to 
the  education  of  this  dear  child."  Then,  pointing 
to  Mademoiselle,  "  Continue  and  complete  that  of  this 
child,  who  is  just  as  dear  to  me,  and  you  will  acquire 
new  claims  on  my  gratitude."  The  little  Princess 
then  seized  the  hands  of  her  governess  with  such  effu- 
sion that  the  latter  could  hardly  restrain  her  tears. 

That  evening  the  Duchess  of  Gontaut  addressed  to 
the  Duke  de  Riviere  a  letter  in  which  she  depicted 
the  character  of  the  child  she  had  brought  up  with 
such  care :  — 


184  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

"  I  have  always  followed  the  impulses  of  my  heart," 
she  wrote,  "in  easily  performing  a  task  for  which 
that  was  all  that  was  needed.  Monseigneur  and 
Mademoiselle  believe  me  blindly,  for  I  have  never 
deceived  them,  even  in  jest.  A  pleasantry  that  a 
child's  mind  cannot  understand  embarrasses  him, 
destroys  his  ease  and  confidence,  humiliates  and  even 
angers  him,  if  he  believes  that  he  has  been  deceived. 
Monseigneur  has  more  need  than  most  children  of 
this  discretion.  The  directness  and  generosity  of 
his  character  incline  him  to  take  everything  seriously. 
When  he  thinks  he  sees  that  any  one  is  being  annoyed, 
the  one  oppressed  straightway  becomes  the  object  of 
his  lively  interest;  he  will  take  up  his  defence 
warmly  and  will  not  spare  his  rebukes ;  he  shows  on 
these  occasions  an  energy  quite  in  contrast  with  the 
natural  timidity  of  his  character.  With  such  a  child, 
I  have  had  to  avoid  even  the  shadow  of  injustice.  He 
loves  Mademoiselle,  is  gentle,  kind,  attentive  to  her. 
I  have  always  carefully  shunned  for  Their  Royal 
Highnesses  the  little  contests  of  childhood;  however 
unimportant  they  may  seem  at  first,  they  end  by  em- 
bittering the  disposition." 

We  commend  to  mothers  and  teachers  the  letter  of 
the  Duchess  of  Gontaut.  It  is  a  veritable  programme 
of  education,  conceived  with  high  intelligence  and 
great  practical  sense.  What  more  just  than  this  re- 
flection :  "  The  method  of  teaching  by  amusement  is 
fashionable,  and  appears  to  me  to  lead  to  a  very  super- 
ficial education.     That  is  not  what  I  have  sought. 


THE  DUCHESS   OF  GONTAUT  185 

Let  the  teacher  explain  readil}^,  but  let  him  allow 
the  pupil  to  take  some  pains,  for  he  must  learn  early 
the  difficulties  of  life  and  how  to  overcome  them. 
A  child  prince,  exposed  to  flattery,  runs  the  risk  of 
thinking  himself  a  prodigy.  To  obviate  this  Mon- 
seigneur  and  Mademoiselle  have  often  been  subjected 
to  little  competitions  with  children  of  their  age.  I 
have  sought  by  this  means  to  give  them  the  habit  of 
witnessing  success  without  envy,  and  to  gain  it  with- 
out vanity."  And  what  a  fine  and  noble  thing  is 
this.  "  I  have  tried  on  all  occasions  to  lead  the  mind 
of  Monseigneur  to  the  moral  teaching  of  religion ;  I 
have  used  it  as  a  restraint ;  I  have  presented  it  as 
a  hope." 

The  Duchess  of  Gontaut  was  proud  of  her  pupil :  — 
"  It  will  require  time,"  she  says,  in  this  same  letter, 
"kindness,  and  tenderness  to  gain  the  confidence  of 
Monseigneur.  His  features  show  his  soul ;  he  talks 
little  of  what  he  undergoes ;  he  has  much  sensibility, 
but  a  power  over  himself  remarkable  at  his  age ;  I 
have  seen  him  suffer  without  complaint.  The  efforts 
that  he  has  made  to  overcome  a  timidity  that  I  have 
tried  hard  to  conquer,  have  been  noteworthy.  I 
have  been  able  to  make  him  understand  the  neces- 
sity, for  a  prince,  of  addressing  strangers  in  a  noble, 
gracious,  and  intelligible  fashion.  I  have  alwaj's 
sought  to  remove  all  means  and  all  pretext  for  con- 
cealing his  faults;  bashfulness  leads  imperceptibly 
to  dissimulation  and  falsehood.  I  am  happ}''  in  af- 
firming that   Monseigneur  is  scrupulously  truthful. 


186  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

I  have  believed  it  requisite,  by  reason  of  the  vivacity 
of  his  disposition,  and  the  high  destiny  awaiting  him, 
to  constrain  him  to  reflect  before  acting.  The  word 
justice  has  a  real  charm  for  him ;  I  have  never  seen 
a  heart  more  loyal." 

The  woman  who  wrote  these  lines  so  firm  and 
honest,  so  sensible  and  forcible,  was  no  ordinary 
woman.  In  contrast  with  so  many  emigrSs  who 
had  learned  nothing  and  forgotten  nothing,  she  had 
learned  much  and  retained  it.  The  difficulties  and 
bitternesses  of  exile  were  an  excellent  school  for  her. 
She  remained  French  always,  —  in  ideas,  tastes,  feel- 
ings. Sincerely  royalist,  but  with  no  exaggeration, 
she  took  account  perfectly  of  the  requirements  of 
modern  society.  Very  devoted  to  her  princes,  she 
knew  how  to  tell  them  the  truth.  She  spoke  frankly 
to  Charles  X.,  whom  she  had  known  from  an  early 
day,  and  had  seen  in  such  diverse  situations. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  King  did  not  con- 
sult her  oftener.  She  would  have  saved  him  from 
many  errors,  notably  from  the  fatal  ordinances  which 
she  disapproved.  She  was  a  woman  not  merely  of 
heart,  but  of  head.  Her  Memoirs  are  the  more  in- 
teresting, that  not  the  least  literary  pretension  mingles 
with  their  sincerity.  They  have  a  character  of  inti- 
macy that  doubles  their  charm.  This  talk  of  a  vener- 
able grandmother  with  her  grandchildren  is  not  only 
solid  and  instructive,  it  is  agreeable  and  gracious, 
tender  and  touching. 


XIX 


THE   THREE    GOVERNORS 


IN  the  space  of  three  years,  from  1826  to  1828, 
Charles  X.  named  three  governors  for  the  Duke 
of  Bordeaux.  One,  the  Duke  of  Montmorency,  never 
entered  on  his  duties.  The  others  were  the  Duke  de 
Riviere  and  the  Baron  de  Damas.  The  Duke  of 
Montmorency  was  named  in  anticipation  the  8th  of 
January,  1826,  although  his  task  did  not  begin  until 
the  29th  of  September.  Mathieu  de  Montmorency, 
first  Viscount  and  then  Duke,  was  born  in  1766. 
After  having  been  through  the  war  in  America,  he 
had  adopted  the  ideas  of  Lafayette,  and  had  been  dis- 
tinguished by  his  extreme  liberalism.  He  took  the 
oath  of  the  Jeu  de  Paume,  and  was  the  fii'st  to  give  up 
the  privileges  derived  from  his  birth  on  the  celebrated 
night  of  the  4th  of  August.  The  12th  of  July,  1791, 
he  was  one  of  the  deputation  that  attended  the  solemn 
transfer  of  the  ashes  of  Voltaire,  and,  August  27th, 
he  sustained  the  proposition  to  decree  the  honors  of 
the  Pantheon  to  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau.  In  his 
Petit  Almanack  des  Girands  Homines  de  la  Revolution^ 
Rivarol  wrote,  not  without  irony :  — 

"  The  most  youthful  talent  of  the  Assembly,  he  is 

187 


188  TUE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

still  stammering  his  patriotism,  but  he  already  man- 
ages to  make  it  understood,  and  the  Republic  sees 
in  him  all  it  wishes  to  see.  It  was  necessary  that 
Montmorency  should  appear  popular  for  the  Revo- 
lution to  be  complete,  and  a  child  alone  could  set 
this  great  example.  The  little  Montmorency  there- 
fore devoted  himself  to  the  esteem  of  the  moment, 
and  combated  aristocracy  under  the  ferrule  of  the 
AhU  Sieyes." 

Mathieu  de  Montmorency  did  not  adhere  to  his 
revolutionary  ideas.  After  the  10th  of  August,  1792, 
he  withdi'cw  to  Switzerland,  at  Coppet,  near  his 
friend  Madame  de  Stael.  Under  the  Empire  he  held 
himself  apart.  He  had  become  as  conservative  as  he 
had  been  liberal,  as  religious  as  he  had  been  Voltair- 
ian. Under  the  Restoration,  he  was  one  of  the  most 
convinced  supporters  of  the  throne  and  the  altar. 
Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  1821,  he  showed  him- 
self a  distinguished  diplomat,  and  during  the  session 
of  1822  made  the  amende  honorable  for  what  he 
called  his  former  errors. 

As  he  had  always  been  sincere  in  his  successive 
opinions,  the  Duke  of  Montmorency  deserved  general 
esteem.  His  profound  piety,  his  unchanging  gentle- 
ness, his  exhaustless  charity,  made  him  a  veritable 
saint.  He  was  the  complete  type  of  the  Christian 
nobleman.  His  name,  his  character,  the  very  feat- 
ures of  his  countenance,  were  all  in  perfect  harmony. 
The  adversaries  of  the  Revolution  could  not  refrain 
from   honoring  this  good   man.      On  receiving  the 


THE  THREE  GOVEBNORS  189 

title  of  governor  to  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux,  lie  felt 
rewarded  for  the  devotion  and  virtue  of  his  whole 
life.  But  he  regarded  this  grave  employment  as  a 
heavy  burden,  "  an  immense  and  formidable  honor, 
the  terror  of  his  feebleness,  and  the  perpetual  occu- 
pation of  his  conscience."  This  was  the  thought 
expressed  in  his  reception  discourse  at  the  French 
Academy.  The  Count  Daru  replied  to  him.  At  the 
same  session  M.  de  Chateaubriand  read  a  historic 
fragment.  It  was  the  first  time  since  leaving  the 
ministry  that  the  celebrated  writer  had  appeared  in 
public,  and  he  chose  to  do  so  to  adorn  the  triumph 
of  him  whose  rival  he  had  been. 

The  Duke  Mathieu  de  Montmorency  died  six 
months  before  he  was  to  enter  upon  his  functions  as 
governor  to  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux.  It  was  Good 
Friday  of  the  year  1826,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon. Before  the  tomb  in  the  Church  of  Saint 
Thomas  Aquinas,  his  parish,  the  Duke  was  praying 
like  a  saint,  when  suddenly  he  was  seen  to  waver, 
and  then  to  fall.  Those  near  him  ran  to  him,  raised 
him;  he  was  dead.  The  news  had  hardly  spread 
when  the  church  was  filled  with  a  crowd  of  poor 
people,  who  wept  hot  tears  over  the  loss  of  their  bene- 
factor. On  the  morrow  the  Duchess  of  Broglie  wrote 
to  Madame  Rdcamier,  for  whom  the  deceased  had  had 
an  almost  mystic  tenderness :  — 

"Holy  Saturday.  Oh,  my  God!  my  God!  dear 
friend,  what  an  event!  I  think  of  you  with 
anguish.      All   the   past   comes    up    before    me.     I 


190  TUE  BUCUESS   OF  BERRY 

thouglit  I  could  see  the  grief  of  my  poor  mother,  and 
I  think  of  yours,  my  dear  friend,  which  must  be 
terrible.  But  what  a  beautiful  death!  Thus  he 
would  have  chosen  it  —  the  place,  the  day,  the  hour ! 
The  hand  of  God,  of  that  saviour  God,  whose  sacrifice 
he  was  celebrating,  is  here  !  " 

Father  Macarthy  said,  in  a  sermon  preached  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  Tuileries :  — 

"Happy  he,  O  God,  who  comes  before  Thy 
altar,  on  the  day  of  Thy  death,  at  the  very  hour 
when  Thou  didst  expire  for  the  salvation  of  the 
world,  to  breathe  out  his  soul  at  Thy  feet,  and  be 
laid  in  Thy  tomb !  " 

Lastly,  the  Duke  de  Laval-Montmorency  wrote  to 
Madame  Recamier :  — 

"  I  say  it  to  you,  my  dear  friend,  I  avow  it  without 
false  modesty,  I  never  have  had  any  merit  or  any 
honor  in  life,  save  from  action  in  common  with  m}^ 
angelic  friend.  He  alone  is  happy;  he  is  so  beyond 
doubt;  from  heaven  he  sees  our  tears,  our  desolation, 
our  homage ;  he  will  be  our  protector  on  high  as  he 
was  our  friend,  our  support,  upon  the  earth." 

The  death  of  the  virtuous  Duke  caused  Charles  X. 
great  grief.  He  said :  "  There  are  in  me  two  persons, 
the  king  and  the  man,  and  I  know  not  which  is  the 
most  affected." 

M.  de  Chateaubriand  desired  —  and  the  desire  was 
quite  natural  —  to  replace  the  Duke  of  Montmorency 
in  the  office  of  governor  of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux, 
but  the  wish  was  not  gratified.     In  his  Life  of  Heiiry 


THE  THREE  GOVERNORS  191 

of  France,  M.  de  P^ne  makes  the  following  reflections 
on  this  point :  — 

"  Chateaubriand  lacked  neither  the  knowledgfe  nor 
the  virtue  to  be  the  Fdnelon  of  a  new  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy. The  eclat  of  his  literary  renown,  the  political 
sense  of  which  he  had  given  proof  in  the  Spanish  war, 
the  popularity  that  surrounded  him,  were  certainly 
arguments  in  his  favor.  But  looking  at  things  coolly, 
it  was  clear  that  an  irregular  genius  was  not  suited 
for  the  part  of  Mentor,  when  he  still  had  all  the  way- 
ward impulses  of  T^l^maque." 

The  choice  of  Charles  X.  fell  on  one  of  his  oldest 
and  most  faithful  friends,  the  Lieutenant-General 
Duke  Charles  de  Riviere.  He  was  a  soldier  of  great 
valor,  of  gentle  disposition,  full  of  modesty  and  kind- 
ness, believing  devoutly  and  practising  the  Christian 
religion,  a  descendant  of  those  old  kniglits  who  joined 
in  one  love,  God,  France,  and  the  King. 

Born  the  17th  of  December,  1763,  M.  de  Riviere 
had  been  the  companion  and  servitor  of  the  princes 
in  exile  and  misfortune,  and  they  had  confided  to 
him  the  most  difficult  and  dangerous  missions.  lie 
was  secretly  in  France  in  1794,  and  was  arrested  and 
condemned  to  death  as  implicated  in  the  Cadoudal 
case.  At  his  trial,  he  was  shown,  at  a  distance, 
the  portrait  of  the  Count  d'Artois,  and  asked  if  he 
recognized  it.  He  asked  to  see  it  nearer,  and  then 
having  it  in  his  hands,  he  said,  looking  at  the  presi- 
dent :  "  Do  you  suppose  that  even  from  afar  I  did  not 
recognize  it?     But  I  wished  to  see  it  nearer  once 


192  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEBRY 

more  before  I  die."  And  the  martyr  of  royalty  relig- 
iously kissed  the  image  of  his  dear  prince. 

Josephine  intervened,  and  secured  the  commuta- 
tion of  the  sentence,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Duke 
Armand  de  Polignac.  Napoleon,  who  admired  men 
of  force,  caused  to  be  offered  to  M.  de  Riviere  his 
complete  pardon,  and  a  regiment  or  a  diplomatic  post, 
at  choice.  The  inflexible  royalist  preferred  to  ]je 
sent  to  the  fort  of  Joux,  where  Toussaint  Louverture 
had  died,  and  remained  a  prisoner  up  to  the  time  of 
the  marriage  of  the  Empress  Marie  Louise. 

Under  the  Restoration,  M.  de  Riviere,  who  was 
Marquis  and  was  made  Duke  only  in  1825,  became 
lieutenant-general.  Peer  of  France,  ambassador  at 
Constantinople,  captain  of  the  body-guards  of  Mon- 
sieur. At  the  time  of  his  accession,  Charles  X.  did 
for  his  faithful  servitor  what  had  never  before  been 
done ;  he  created  for  him  a  fifth  company  of  the 
King's  body-guards.  "My  dear  Riviere,"  he  said, 
"  I  have  done  my  best  for  you,  but  we  shall  both  lose 
by  it ;  you  used  to  guard  me  all  the  time,  now  you 
can  guard  me  but  three  months  in  the  year."  The 
30th  of  May,  1825,  the  morrow  of  the  coronation  and 
the  day  of  the  reception  of  the  Knights  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  Charles  X.  conferred  the  title  of  duke  on  his 
devoted  friend.  "By  the  way.  Riviere,  I  have  made 
you  a  duke."  It  recalled  the  words  of  Henry  IV. 
to  Sully  in  like  circumstances. 

When  he  chose  the  Duke  de  Riviere  as  governor 
of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux,  the  King  said  to  Madame 


THE  THREE  GOVERNORS  193 

de  Gontaut:  "In  naming  Riviere,  I  have  followed, 
I  confess,  the  inclinations  of  my  heart;  I  am  under 
obligations  to  him ;  he  has  incessantly  exposed  him- 
self for  our  cause ;  he  has  borne  captivity,  poverty ;  I 
love  him,  and  I  am  used  to  him." 

The  new  governor,  who  was  very  modest,  was 
frightened  at  the  task  confided  to  him. 

"  You  congratulate  me,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend ; 
"console  me,  rather,  pity  me.  An  employment  so 
grave  must  be  a  heavy  burden.  I  am  easy  about  the 
instruction  my  royal  pupil  will  receive ;  the  wise 
prelate  named  by  the  King  as  his  preceptor  will  be 
a  powerful  auxiliary  for  me.  But  my  share  is  still  too 
great.  It  requires  something  more  than  fidelity  for 
such  a  place,  —  firmness  without  roughness,  unlimited 
patience,  address,  intelligence.  I  am  frightened  at  the 
mission  I  have  to  fill.  I  begged  the  King  to  release 
me.  He  insisted.  I  asked  him  to  make  it  a  com- 
mand; he  replied:  'I  will  not  command  you,  but 
you  will  give  me  great  pleasure.'  I  did  not  conceal 
from  the  King  that  I  should  have  preferred  to  remain 
captain  of  his  guards ;  he  answered :  '  Well,  you 
made  that  place  for  yourself;  make  this  for  me.' 
How  could  one  resist  such  language  from  the  lips  of 
such  a  prince  ?  There  was  but  one  choice  to  make, 
—  to  do  all  that  he  wished." 

Charles  X.  named  as  sub-governors  two  distin- 
guished military  men,  the  Colonel  Marquis  de  Bar- 
ban9ois  and  the  Lieutenant-Colonel  Count  de  Maupas. 
He  named  as  preceptor  INIgr.  Tharin,  Bishop  of  Stras- 


194  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

bourg,  and  as  sub-preceptor  the  Abb^  Martin  de  Noir- 
lieu  and  M.  de  Barande.  The  Bishop  of  Strasbourg 
was  a  pious  and  learned  priest,  of  great  benevolence 
and  extreme  affability.  But  his  appointment  exasper- 
ated the  Opposition,  because  he  had  formerly  taken 
up  the  defence  of  the  Order  of  the  Jesuits  against  the 
attacks  of  M.  de  Montlosier.  All  the  liberal  sheets 
cried  aloud.  Le  Journal  des  DShats,  furious  that  its 
candidate  to  the  succession  of  the  Duke  de  Montmo- 
rency, M.  de  Chateaubriand,  had  not  been  named, 
wrote,  regarding  the  appointment  of  Mgr.  Tharin :  — 

"  Such  imprudence  amazes,  such  blindness  is  pitia- 
ble. It  awakens  profound  grief  to  see  this  chariot 
rush  toward  the  abyss  with  no  power  to  restrain  it." 

The  Duke  de  Riviere  gave  himself  up  entirely  to 
the  task  confided  to  him.  He  never  quitted  the  young 
prince.  He  slept  in  his  room  and  watched  over  him 
night  and  day.  In  the  month  of  February,  1828,  he 
fell  ill.  The  princes  and  princesses  visited  him  fre- 
quently. The  sovereign  himself,  putting  aside  for 
this  faithful  friend  the  etiquette  which  forbade  him  to 
visit  any  one  out  of  his  own  family,  went  constantly 
to  see  him  and  remained  long  with  him.  The  Duke 
had  no  greater  consolation,  after  that  of  his  religion, 
than  the  visit  of  his  King.  He  said  to  his  family  as 
the  hour  of  the  expected  visit  approached,  "  Do  not 
let  me  sleep,"  and  if  he  felt  himself  getting  drows}^, 
"  For  pity's  sake,"  he  said,  "  awaken  me  if  the  King 
comes ;  it  is  the  best  remedy  for  my  pains."  Charles 
X.  could  hardly  restrain  his  tears ;  on  leaving  the 


THE  THREE  GOVERNORS  195 

room  he  gave  way  to  his  grief.  The  little  Duke  of 
Bordeaux,  also,  was  much  saddened. 

One  day,  when  he  was  told  that  the  sick  man  had 
passed  a  bad  night,  he  said  to  his  sister  :  "  Let's  play 
plays  that  don't  amuse  us  to-day." 

Another  day,  when  it  was  reported  that  his  gov- 
ernor was  a  little  better :  "  In  that  case,"  he  cried, 
"general  illumination,"  and  he  went  in  broad  day, 
and  lighted  all  the  candles  in  the  salon.  The  Duke 
de  Riviere  died  the  21st  of  April,  1828;  by  order  of 
the  King,  his  son  lived  from  that  time  with  the  Duke 
of  Bordeaux,  and  received  lessons  from  the  precep- 
tors of  the  young  Prince. 

The  Liberals  wished  the  successor  of  the  Duke  to 
be  one  of  their  choice.  They  maintained  that  the 
son  of  France  belonged  to  the  nation,  and  that  it  had 
too  much  interest  in  his  education  to  permit  the 
parents  alone  to  dispose  of  it,  as  in  ordinary  families. 
The  ministry  wished  to  be  consulted.  Charles  X. 
replied  that  he  took  counsel  with  his  ministers  in  all 
that  concerned  the  public  administration,  but  that  he 
should  maintain  his  liberty  as  father  of  a  family  in 
the  choice  of  masters  for  his  grandson. 

The  King  named  the  Lieutenant-General  Baron  de 
Damas  (born  in  1785,  died  in  1858).  He  was  a  brave 
soldier  and  a  good  Christian.  M.  de  Lamartine  said 
that  he  had  "  integrity,  obstinate  industry,  virtue  in- 
corruptible by  the  air  of  courts,  patriotic  purpose, 
cool  impartiality,  but  no  presence  and  no  brilliancy," 
and  that  "  liis  piety  was  as  loyal  and  disinterested  as 


196  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

his  heart."  He  had  been  Minister  of  War,  and  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  and  distinguished  himself  under  the 
Duke  of  Angouleme,  during  the  Spanish  Expedition. 
But  under  the  Revolution  and  the  Empire,  he  had 
served  in  the  Russian  army,  and  this  did  not  render 
him  popular.  The  Abbd  V^drenne,  in  his  Vie  de 
Charles  X.,  wrote  :  — 

"  To  watch  over  the  person  of  the  son  of  France, 
not  quitting  him  night  or  day ;  to  make  sure  that  the 
rules  of  his  education  are  followed  in  the  employment 
of  his  time,  in  the  routine  of  his  lessons ;  to  let  no 
one  save  persons  worthy  of  confidence  come  near 
him ;  to  ward  off  all  dangers,  and  notify  the  King  of 
the  least  indisposition,  —  such  is  the  duty  of  the  gov- 
ernor. It  requires  more  prudence  than  learning, 
more  probity  than  genius.  M.  de  Damas  was  a 
royalist  too  tried,  too  fervent  a  Christian,  for  his 
nomination  not  to  provoke  many  murmurs.  His 
place,  moreover,  had  been  desired  by  so  many  people, 
that  there  was  no  lack  of  those  who  were  displeased 
and  jealous.  There  was  a  general  outcry  over  his 
incapacity  and  ignorance.  One  would  have  thought 
that  he  was  to  perform  the  task  of  a  Bossuet  and  a 
F^nelon,  while  in  reality  he  filled  the  place  of  a  Mon- 
tausier  or  a  Beauvilliers.  Had  he  not  their  virtues, 
and  especially  their  devotion  ?  " 

The  Duchess  of  Gontaut  thus  relates  the  first  in- 
terview of  the  young  Prince  with  his  new  governor: 
"Monseigneur  was  a  little  intimidated,  when  the 
Baron,  coming  up  near  to  him,  made  a  profound  bow, 


THE  THREE  GOVERNORS  197 

and  said  :  '  Monseigneur,  I  commend  myself  to  you.' 
To  which  Monseigneur,  not  knowing  what  to  say, 
said  nothing,  and  as  no  one  spake  a  word,  the  King 
dismissed  us.  When  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  learned 
that  M.  de  Damas  had  six  or  seven  boys  nearly  his 
age  and  only  one  girl,  and  that  the  girl  would  not  be 
any  trouble,  his  gaiety  returned."  The  little  Prince 
got  used  to  his  new  governor,  who  had  the  most  solid 
qualities,  and  who  performed  his  task  with  the  same 
devotion  and  zeal  as  his  predecessor. 


XX 

THE  KEVIEW  OF  THE  NATIONAL  GUARD 

CHARLES  X.  was  always  much  beloved  by  the 
court,  but  less  so  by  the  city.  In  vain,  in  his 
promenades,  he  sought  the  salutations  of  the  crowd, 
and  exerted  himself  by  his  affability  to  provoke 
acclamations;  the  public  remained  cold,  and  the 
monarch  returned  to  the  Tuileries,  saddened  by  a 
change  in  his  reception  which  he  charged  to  the 
tactics  of  the  liberal  party  and  the  calumnies  of  the 
journals.  The  anti-religious  opposition  went  on 
increasing,  and  tried  to  persuade  the  crowd  that  the 
King  was  aiming  at  nothing  less  than  placing  his 
kingdom  under  the  direction  of  the  Jesuits. 

The  person  of  the  sovereign  was  still  respected, 
but  the  men  who  had  his  confidence  were  the  object 
of  the  most  violent  criticisms.  A  coalition  of  the 
Extremists  and  the  Left  fought  savagely  against  the 
Villele  ministry,  which  was  reproached  particularly 
for  its  long  duration. 

From  1827,  Orleansism,  which  Charles  X.  did  not 
even  sus23ect,  existed  in  a  latent  state,  and  sagacious 
observers  could  perceive  the  dangers  of  the  near 
future.  A  review  of  the  National  Guard  of  Paris 
was  a  forerunner  of  them, 
198 


THE  REVIEW  OF  THE  NATIONAL   GUARD      199 

Each  year  the  12th  of  April,  the  anniversary  of  the 
re-entrance  of  Monsieur  to  Paris  in  1814,  the  National 
Guard  alone  was  on  duty  at  the  Tuileries.  This 
privilege  was  looked  upon  as  the  reward  of  the  devo- 
tion it  had  then  shown  to  the  Prince,  whose  sole 
armed  force  it  was  for  several  weeks.  In  1827,  the 
12th  of  April  fell  on  Holy  Thursday,  a  day  given  over 
wholly  by  the  sovereign  to  his  religious  duties.  In 
consequence,  he  decided  that  the  day  of  exceptional 
service  reserved  to  the  National  Guard  should  be 
postponed  to  Monday,  the  16th.  The  morning  of 
that  day,  detachments  from  all  the  legions,  includ- 
ing the  cavaliy,  assembled  in  the  court  of  the 
Chateau,  and  were  received  by  Charles  X.  He 
received  a  warm  welcome,  such  as  he  had  not  been 
used  to  for  a  long  time,  and  the  crowd  joined  its 
shouts  to  the  huzzas  of  the  Guard.  Charles  X., 
filled  with  delight,  said  to  the  officers  who  joined 
him  as  the  troo^^s  filed  by :  "I  regret  that  the  entire 
National  Guard  is  not  assembled  for  the  review." 
Then  the  officers  replied  that  their  comrades  would 
be  only  too  happy  if  the  King  would  consent  to  re- 
view the  whole  Guard.  Marshal  Oudinot,  Duke  of 
Reggio,  who  was  the  commandant-in-chief,  warmly 
supported  this  desire,  and  the  sovereign  responded 
by  promising  for  April  29  the  review  thus  urged. 

Charles  X.  believed  he  had  returned  to  the  pleasant 
time  of  his  popularity.  He  wished  to  confirm  it  by 
withdi-awing  a  law  as  to  the  press,  proposed  in  the 
Chambers,  and  which,  though  called  by  the  ultras  a 


200  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEERY 

"  law  of  love  and  justice,"  encountered  bitter  opposi- 
tion even  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers.  The  law  was 
withdrawn  April  17,  the  very  day  that  the  Moniteur 
announced  the  promise  given  the  day  before  for  the 
review  of  the  29th.  On  learning  of  the  withdrawal  of 
the  unpopular  law,  the  liberals  uttered  cries  of  joy 
and  triumph.  Columns  of  working  printers  traversed 
the  streets  with  cries  of  "  Long  live  the  King  !  Long 
live  the  Chamber  of  Peers !  Long  live  the  liberty  of 
the  press  ! "  In  the  evening  Paris  was  illuminated. 
A  victory  over  a  foreign  foe  would  not  have  been 
celebrated  with  greater  transports  of  enthusiasm. 
The  ministry  was  disquieted  by  these  wild  manifes- 
tations of  delight,  which,  in  reality,  were  directed 
against  it.  It  tried  in  vain  to  induce  the  King  to 
countermand  the  review  of  the  29th.  M.  de  Chateau- 
briand wrote  to  Charles  X.  a  long  letter  to  beg  him 
to  change  his  ministry.  It  contained  the  following 
passage :  — 

"  Sire,  it  is  false  that  there  is,  as  is  said,  a  repub- 
lican faction  at  present,  but  it  is  true  that  there  are 
partisans  of  an  illegitimate  monarchy;  now  these 
latter  are  too  adroit  not  to  profit  by  the  occasion,  and 
mingle  their  voices  on  the  29th  with  that  of  France, 
to  impose  on  the  nation.  What  will  the  King  do*^ 
Will  he  surrender  his  ministers  to  the  popular 
demand?  That  would  be  to  destroy  the  power  of 
the  State.  Will  he  keep  his  ministers?  They  will 
cause  all  the  unpopularity  that  pursues  them  to  fall 
on  the  head  of  their  august  master." 


THE  REVIEW  OF  THE  NATIONAL   GUARD      201 

Chateaubriand  closed  as  follows  :  — 

"  Sire,  to  dare  to  write  you  tliis  letter,  I  must  be 
strongly  persuaded  of  the  necessity  of  reaching  a 
decision.  An  imperative  duty  must  urge  me.  The 
ministers  are  my  enemies.  As  a  Christian  I  forgive 
them,  as  a  man  I  can  never  pardon  them.  In  this 
position  I  should  never  have  addressed  the  King,  if 
the  safety  of  the  monarchy  were  not  involved." 

All  this  urging  was  futile.  Charles  X.  did  not 
change  his  ministry,  and  the  review  took  place  on  the 
Champ-de-Mars  on  the  day  appointed. 

It  is  Sunday,  April  29th,  1827.  The  weather  is 
magnificent.  The  springtime  sun  gives  to  the  capital 
a  festive  air.  All  the  people  are  out.  The  twelve 
legions  and  the  mounted  guards  —  more  than  twenty 
thousand  men  —  are  under  arms  awaiting  the  King 
on  the  Champ-de-Mars.  An  enormous  crowd  occu- 
pies the  slope.  At  one  o'clock  precisely,  Charles  X., 
mounted  on  a  beautiful  horse,  which  he  manages 
like  a  skilled  horseman,  leaves  the  Tuileries  with  a 
numerous  escort,  including  the  Dauphin,  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  the  young  Duke  of  Chartres,  and  a  num- 
ber of  generals.  The  princesses  follow  in  an  open 
caleche.  Everything  appears  to  be  going  perfectly. 
The  National  Guards  have  pledged  themselves  to 
satisfy  the  King  by  their  conduct.  A  note  has  been 
read  in  the  ranks  in  these  words :  "  Caution  to  the 
National  Guards,  to  be  circulated  to  the  ver}-  last 
file.  The  rumor  is  spread  that  the  National  Guards 
intend  to  cry   '  Down   with   the  ministers !      Down 


202  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

with  the  Jesuits ! '  Only  mischief-makers  can  wish 
to  see  the  National  Guard  abandon  its  noble  char- 
acter." 

A  general  movement  of  curiosity  on  the  Champ- 
de-Mars  is  noticed.  Charles  X.  arrives.  He  has  a 
serene  brow,  a  smile  upon  his  lips.  It  hardly  seems 
possible  that  before  the  end  of  the  year  he  will  be  a 
septuagenarian;  he  would  be  taken  for  a  man  of 
fifty,  powdered.  An  immense  cry  of  "  Long  live  the 
King,"  raised  by  the  National  Guards,  is  repeated 
by  the  crowd.  The  monarch,  radiant,  salutes  with 
gflance  and  hand. 

He  passes  along  the  front  of  the  battalions.  Here 
and  there  are  heard  cries  of  "  Hurrah  for  the  Char- 
ter! Hurrah  for  liberty  of  the  press!"  But  they 
are  di'owned  by  those  of  "  Long  live  the  King ! " 
Everything  seems  to  go  as  he  wishes,  and  Charles  X. 
feels  that  the  review,  which  his  timid  ministers 
regarded  as  dangerous,  is  an  inspiration.  So  far  it  is 
for  him  only  a  triumph.  But  suddenly,  as  he  appears 
in  front  of  the  Seventh  Legion,  he  remarks  the  per- 
sistence Avith  which  a  group  of  the  Guards  is  crying, 
"  Hurrah  for  the  Charter !  "  The  monarch  perceives 
a  sentiment  of  unfriendliness.  A  National  Guards- 
man ventures  to  speak :  — 

"Does  Your  Majesty  think  that  cheers  for  the 
Charter  are  an  outrage?  "  —  "  Gentlemen,"  responds 
the  King  in  a  severe  tone,  "  I  came  here  to  receive 
homage,  not  a  lesson."  The  royal  pride  of  this  re- 
spouse  had  a  good  effect.     The  cries  of  "  Long  live 


THE  REVIEW  OF  THE  NATIONAL   GUARD      203 

the  King !  "  are  renewed  with  energy.  The  face  of 
Charles  X.  again  becomes  calm  and  serene.  Seated 
in  his  saddle  before  the  Military  School,  the  sovereign 
sees  file  by  the  twelve  legions,  with  unanimous 
cheers.  The  review  closed,  the  King  says  to  Mar- 
shal Oudinot,  commandant-in-chief  of  the  National 
Guaid  :  "  It  might  have  passed  off  better ;  there  were 
some  mar-plots,  but  the  mass  is  good,  and  on  the 
whole,  I  am  satisfied." 

The  Marshal  asks,  if,  in  the  order  of  the  day  he 
may  mention  the  satisfaction  of  the  King.  "  Yes," 
replied  Charles  X.,  "  but  I  wish  to  know  the  terms 
in  which  this  sentiment  is  expressed." 

The  sovereign  returns  on  horseback  to  the  Tuile- 
ries,  while  each  legion  goes  to  its  own  quarter. 
When  he  arrives  at  the  Pavilion  de  I'Horloge,  he  is 
received  by  his  two  grandchildren.  Mademoiselle 
throws  herself  upon  his  neck :  "  Bon-papa,  you  are 
content,  aren't  you  ?  "  —  "  Yes,  almost,"  he  answers. 
The  Count  de  Bourbon-Busset,  who  is  in  the  sover- 
eign's suite,  says  to  the  Duchess  of  Gontaut,  his 
mother-in-law,  that  all  has  passed  off  well.  The 
Duchess  of  Angouleme,  who  has  just  alighted  from 
her  carriage,  as  well  as  the  Duchess  of  Berry,  heare 
this  phrase  ;  she  cries  :  "  You  are  not  hard  to  please." 
The  two  princesses  are  as  agitated  as  the  King  is 
calm.  At  the  moment  of  their  return  they  have  been 
greeted  with  violent  cries  of  "  Down  with  the  minis- 
ters !  Down  with  the  Jesuits  !  "  It  is  even  said  that 
there  was  a  cry  of  "  Down  with  the  Jesuitesses ! " 


204  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

The  clang  of  arms  rendered  these  violent  clamors 
more  sinister.  The  daughter  of  Louis  XVI.  and  the 
widow  of  the  Duke  of  Berry  believed  themselves 
doubly  insulted  as  women  and  as  princesses.  The 
Duchess  of  Angouleme,  with  intrepid  countenance, 
but  deeply  irritated,  trembled  with  indignation.  It 
seemed  to  her  that  the  Revolution  was  being  revived. 
The  scenes  of  horror  that  her  uncle  Charles  X.  had 
not  beheld,  but  of  which  she  had  been  the  witness 
and  the  victim,  arose  before  her  again,  —  the  5th  and 
the  6th  of  October,  1789,  the  20th  of  June,  and  the 
10th  of  August,  1792. 

While  the  Dauphiness  gives  herself  up  to  the 
gloomiest  reflections,  the  Third  Legion  of  the  National 
Guard  is  passing  under  the  windows  of  the  Minister 
of  Finance  in  the  Rue  de  Rivoli.  The  minister,  M.  de 
Vill^le,  has  passed  the  day  at  the  ministry,  receiving 
from  hour  to  hour  news  of  the  review.  The  blinds 
of  his  windows  are  closed.  At  the  moment  when 
the  Third  Legion  files  thi'ough  the  street,  the  band 
ceases  to  play,  the  drums  stop  beating.  Cries  of  fury 
break  from  the  ranks :  "  Down  with  the  ministers ! 
Down  with  the  Jesuits  !  Down  with  Villele  !  "  The 
guards  brandish  their  arms ;  the  officers  themselves 
make  menacing  gestures ;  the  tumult  is  at  its  height. 
M.  de  Villele,  on  the  inside,  follows  from  window  to 
window  the  march  of  the  legion,  and  so  traverses  the 
salons  to  the  apartments  occupied  by  his  old  mother 
and  her  family,  whom  he  wishes  to  reassure  by  his 
own  calm.     Opposite  the  ministry,  a  great  crowd  fills 


THE  REVIEW  OF  THE  NATIONAL   GUARD      205 

the  Terrasse  cles  Feuillants,  without  taking  part  in 
the  manifestation.  But  the  clamors  of  the  National 
Guards  increase.  They  continue  their  march,  enter 
the  Rue  Castiglioue,  reach  the  Place  Vend6me,  where 
the  Ministry  of  Justice  is  situated,  and  recommence 
their  cries  :  "  Down  with  the  ministers  !  Down  with 
the  Jesuits  !     Down  with  Peyronnet !  " 

Invited  to  dine  by  Count  Opponyi,  ambassador  of 
Austria,  with  all  the  ministers,  M.  de  Vill^le  waits 
to  the  last  moment  before  going  to  the  Embassy,  still 
believing  that  he  will  be  summoned  by  the  King. 
As  his  waiting  is  in  vain,  he  goes  to  the  house  of 
Count  Opponyi  and  takes  part  in  the  dinner.  At 
dessert,  a  messenger  of  Charles  X.  glides  behind  his 
chair,  and  says  to  him  in  a  low  voice :  "  The  King 
charges  me  to  tell  you  to  come  to  him  immediately." 
M.  de  Villele  takes  leave  of  the  ambassadress,  and 
sets  out  for  the  Tuileries.  He  finds  Charles  X.  there, 
very  calm,  quite  reassured,  and  having  called  him 
only  to  give  expression  to  his  confidence  and  sym- 
pathy. The  minister  exerts  himself  to  make  the  sov- 
ereign see  the  situation  in  a  very  different  light.  He 
represents  the  incident  of  the  Minister  of  Finance  as 
secondary,  but  insists  on  the  facts  occiu-ring  at  the 
Champ-de-Mars,  notably  the  shouts  around  the  car- 
riage of  the  princesses.  "  It  is  a  fact,"  replies  the 
King.  "  I  did  hear  them  complain.  Well,  what  do 
you  advise  me  to  do  ?  "  The  minister  responds :  "  This 
very  evening,  before  the  bureaux  are  closed,  dissolve 
the  National  Guard  of  Paris ;  order  the  marshal  on 


206  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

duty  near  your  person,  to  have  the  posts  held  by  the 
National  Guard  occupied  at  four  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing by  the  troops  of  the  line ;  to  resort  to  this  meas- 
ure of  force  and  justice  to  forestall  the  consequences 
of  the  most  audacious  attempt  at  revolution  since  the 
commencement  of  your  reign.  To-morrow,  there  are 
to  arrive  at  Paris  fifteen  thousand  men  to  replace  the 
fifteen  thousand  of  the  actual  garrison.  It  suffices  to 
retain  these  latter,  and  thirty  thousand  men  will  be 
enough  to  hold  the  factions  in  check  if  they  have  the 
least  intention  of  rising."  —  "Very  well,"  resumes 
Charles  X.;  "go  and  consult  your  colleagues,  and 
return  after  the  soiree  that  I  shall  attend  with  the 
Duchess  of  Berry." 

This  soiree  is  a  concert  given  by  the  Duchess  at 
the  Tuileries.  The  music  is  but  little  heard.  The 
incidents  of  the  review  are  the  subject  of  all  conver- 
sation. The  courtiers  wonder  whether,  to  please  the 
King,  they  should  take  a  dark  or  a  rose-colored  view 
of  things.  The  optimists  and  pessimists  exchange 
impressions.  Charles  X.  seems  to  lean  to  the  former. 
"  Apparently,"  he  says,  with  his  habitual  honliomie^ 
"  my  bad  ear  has  done  me  a  friendly  service,  and  I 
am  glad  of  it,  for  I  protest  I  heard  no  insults." 
Plainly  it  costs  the  sovereign  pain  to  dismiss  the 
National  Guard.  It  gave  him  so  brilliant  a  welcome 
in  1814.  He  was  its  generalissimo  under  the  reign 
of  Louis  XVIII.  He  has  liked  to  wear  its  uniform, 
the  blue  coat  with  broad  fringes  of  silver  that 
becomes  him  so  well.     But  the  ministers,  except  the 


THE  REVIEW  OF  THE  NATIONAL   GUARD      207 

Duke  of  Doiideauville  and  M.  de  Chabrol,  pro- 
nounce strongly  in  favor  of  disbandment.  Their 
idea  prevails.  After  the  concert  Charles  X.  signs 
the  decree,  which  appears  in  the  Moniteur  on  the 
morrow,  and  is  enforced  without  resistance.  "  The 
King  can  do  anything ! "  cries  the  Duke  de  Riviere, 
with  enthusiasm;  and  May  6th  M.  de  Villele 
addresses  to  the  Prince  de  Polignac,  then  ambassa- 
dor at  London,  a  letter  in  which  he  says :  "  The  dis- 
solution of  the  National  Guard  has  been  a  complete 
success ;  the  bad  have  been  confounded  by  it,  the  good 
encouraged.  Paris  has  never  been  more  calm  than 
since  this  act  of  severity,  justice,  and  vigor."  The 
monarchy  thinks  itself  saved ;  it  is  lost. 


XXI 

THE    FIRST  DISQUIETUDE 

THERE  were  still  great  illusions  among  those 
about  Charles  X.,  and  the  Duchess  of  Berry- 
had  not  for  a  single  instant  an  idea  that  the  rights 
of  her  son  could  be  compromised.  They  persuaded 
themselves  that  the  Opposition  would  remain  dynastic 
and  that  the  severest  crises  would  end  only  in  a  change 
of  ministry.  Nevertheless,  even  at  the  court,  the 
more  thoughtful  began  to  be  anxious,  and  perceived 
many  dark  points  on  the  horizon.  Certain  royalists, 
enlightened  by  experience  of  the  Emigration  and 
Exile,  had  a  presentiment  that  the  Restoration  would 
be  for  them  only  a  halt  in  the  long  way  of  catastrophes 
and  sorrow.  They  mourned  the  optimist  tranquillity 
in  which  some  of  the  courtiers  succeeded  in  lulling  the 
King.  There  were  courageous  and  faithful  servitors 
who,  at  the  risk  of  displeasing  their  master  and 
losing  his  good  graces,  did  not  recoil  from  the  sad 
obligation  of  telling  him  the  whole  truth.  From  the 
beginning  of  his  reign,  Charles  X.  heard  useful  warn- 
ings, and  later  he  blamed  himself  for  not  having 
listened  better  to  them.  This  justice,  however,  must 
be  done  him,  that  if  he  had  not  the  wisdom  to  profit 
208 


THE  FIRST  DISQUIETUDE  209 

by  such  counsels,  lie  never  was  offended  at  the  men 
of  heart  who  dared  to  give  them  to  him. 

In  this  number  was  the  Viscount  Sosthenes  de  La 
Rochefoucauld,  son  of  the  Duke  of  Doudeauville, 
son-in-law  of  Mathieu  de  Montmorency,  charged  with 
the  department  of  the  fine  arts,  at  the  ministry  of 
the  King's  household.  In  publishing  the  reports 
addressed  by  him  to  Charles  X.  from  his  accession  to 
the  Revolution  of  1830,  he  writes :  — 

"  These  are  respectful  and  tender  warnings  of 
which  too  little  account  was  taken,  and  which  might 
have  saved  the  King  and  France.  I  put  them  down 
here  with  the  gloomy  predictions  contained  in  them, 
which  liave  been  only  too  completely  realized.  They 
are  not  prophecies  after  the  event.  We  saw  in 
advance  the  misfortunes  of  the  King,  the  fall  of  the 
monarchy,  the  ruin  of  legitimacy.  Each  page,  then 
each  line,  and  soon  every  word  of  this  part  of  my 
Memoirs  will  be  a  cry  of  alarm :  '  God  save  the 
King  I '  Alas !  He  has  not  saved  him.  One  is 
always  wrong  if  one  cannot  get  a  hearing  and  make 
one's  self  believed.  It  is  then,  with  no  pride  in  my 
previsions,  but  with  bitter  regret,  that  I  could  not 
get  them  accepted,  that  I  recall  this  long  monologue 
addressed  to  Charles  X." 

From  the  beginning  of  the  reign,  as  he  foresaw 
that  one  day  the  Chamber  would  sign  the  Address  of 
the  221,  and  that  M.  Laffitte  would  be  the  banker  of 
the  revolution  of  July,  the  Viscount  wrote  to  the 
sovereign  in  December,  1824:  — 


210  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

"  The  King  has  two  things  to  combat  for  the  glory 
and  strength  of  his  rule,  the  encroachments  of  the 
Chamber  of  Deputies,  and  the  power  of  money  in 
Europe.  Four  bankers  could  to-day  decide  war,  if 
such  was  their  pleasure.  Sovereigns  cannot  seek  too 
earnestly  to  free  themselves  from  the  sceptre  which 
is  rising  above  their  own.  The  triumph  of  moneyed 
men  will  blight  the  character  and  the  morals  of 
France." 

M.  de  La  Rochefoucauld  added  (report  of  Janu- 
ary 31,  1825)  this  prediction,  which  shows  to  what 
length  his  frankness  went  in  his  loyal  explanations 
with  his  King :  — 

"We  are  between  two  rocks,  equally  dangerous; 
revolution  with  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  ultraism 
with  the  good  Polignac.  The  by-word  now  is: 
'  These  princes  will  end  like  the  Stuarts.'     Madame 

de ,  who  is  agitating  against  the  laws  now  under 

discussion,  has  said :  '  Yes,  it's  the  second  throne 
of  the  Stuarts.'  The  Left  compare  the  Archbishop 
of  Rheims  to  Father  Peters,  the  restless  and  ambitious 
confessor  of  King  James.  It  is  not  easy  for  me  to 
write  thus  to  the  King,  and  I  have  assumed  a  hard 
task  in  promising  myself  to  conceal  nothing  from 
him.  Sometimes  my  heart  is  oppressed  and  my  hand 
stops  ;  but  I  question  my  conscience,  which  seems 
troubled,  and  the  indispensable  necessity  of  telling 
all  to  the  King,  that  he  may  judge  in  his  wisdom, 
decides  me  to  go  on." 

How  many  sagacious  warnings  given  by  the  brave 


THE  FIRST  DISQUIETUDE  211 

courtier,  or,  better,  by  the  faithful  friend,  during  the 
year  1825,  the  year  of  the  coronation :  "  The  good 

Madame  de  M of  the  Sacred  Heart  was  saying 

the  other  day :  '  We  had  a  King  with  no  limbs,  and 
with  a  head ;  now  we  have  limbs  and  no  head.'  It 
is  unheard  of,  the  trouble  taken  in  certain  circles  to 
make  out  that  the  King  has  no  will.  The  future 
must  give  to  all  a  complete  refutation ;  the  future 
must  teach  them  that  the  King  knows  how  to  dis- 
tinguish those  that  betray  from  those  that  serve  him." 
(Report  of  March  1,  1825).  "Does  the  King  wish 
to  run  the  chances  of  a  complete  overturning  by 
throwing  himself  into  the  hands  of  the  ultras  ?  That 
would  be  to  fall  again  under  the  blows  of  the  Revo- 
lution, which  counts  on  these  to  push  the  monarchy 
into  the  abyss  always  held  open  at  its  side." 

From  1825,  criticism  of  the  King  began.  He  was 
accused  of  giving  himself  up  too  much  to  the  pleasures 
of  the  chase.  The  time  was  approaching  when  his 
enemies  would  say  of  him  —  a  cruel  play  on  words : 
"He's  good  for  nothing  but  to  hunt,"  and  would 
translate  the  four  letters  over  the  doors  of  houses 
M.  A.  C.  L.  (inaison  assuree  contre  Vincendie)  by  tliis 
phrase  :  Mes  amis^  ehassons-le. 

The  17th  of  June,  1825,  M.  de  La  Rochefoucauld 
wrote :  — 

"I  must  tell  all  to  the  King.  I  have  prevented 
the  giving  of  a  play  at  the  Odeon  called  Robin  des 
Bois  (Robin  Hood),  because  it  is  a  nickname  crim- 
inally given  by  the  people  to  him  whom  they  accuse 


212.  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

of  hunting  too  often,  an  accusation  very  unjust  in 
the  eyes  of  those  who  know  that  never  did  a  prince 
work  more  than  he  to  whom  allusion  is  made.  When 
the  King  takes  this  distraction  so  necessary  to  him, 
why  hasten  to  make  it  known  to  the  public?  All 
news  comes  from  the  Chateau,  and  the  Constitutionnel 
and  the  Quotidienne  are  always  the  best  informed." 

He  returned  to  the  same  subject  October  6 :  — 

"  I  am  in  despair  at  seeing  the  journals  recounting 
hunt  after  hunt.  I  know  the  effect  that  produces. 
I  wanted  to  get  at  the  source  of  these  mischievous 
reports,  and  M communicated  to  me  confiden- 
tially that  these  reports  came  to  him  from  the  court, 
and  at  such  length  that  he  always  cut  them  down 
three-fourths.  In  this  case,  it  is  for  the  King  to  give 
orders." 

Let  us  put  beside  this  report  the  following  pas- 
sage from  the  Memoirs  of  the  Duke  of  Doudeau- 
ville :  — 

"  I  must  justify  Charles  X.  in  this  passion  for  the 
chase,  so  bitterly  laid  up  against  him  in  that  time 
when  malice  and  bad  faith  seized  on  everything  that 
could  injure  him.  Five  whole  days  every  week  he 
remained  in  his  apartment,  busy  with  affairs  of  state, 
working  with  the  ministers,  examining  by  himself 
their  different  reports  with  a  sensitive  heart,  much 
soul,  and  more  intellect  than  had  been  believed ;  he 
had  much  reason  and  a  very  sound  judgment.  We 
were  often  astonished  at  it  in  the  Council,  over  which 
he  presided,  and  which  he  prolonged  two,  three,  four, 


THE  FIRST  DISQUIETUDE  213 

and  live  hours,  without  permitting  himself  the  least 
distraction  or  showing  any  sign  of  weariness.  Often, 
in  the  most  difficult  discussions,  he  would  open  up 
an  opinion  that  no  one  had  conceived,  and  which, 
full  of  sagacity,  smoothed  every  difficulty. 

"  Twice  a  week,  and  often  only  once,  when  the 
weather  permitted,  he  went  hunting,  perhaps  gun- 
ning, perhaps  coursing.  It  will  be  conceded  that  it 
was  a  necessary  exercise  after  such  assiduous  toil 
and  occupations  so  sedentary. 

"  I  certify  that  this  was  the  extent  of  the  hunting 
of  which  calumny,  to  ruin  him,  made  a  crime.  Every 
time  he  went  hunting,  the  Opposition  journals  did 
not  fail  to  announce  it,  which  persuaded  nearly  all 
France  that  he  passed  all  his  time  in  the  distractions 
of  this  amusement." 

The  tide  of  detraction  of  the  sovereign  steadily 
rose.  The  Viscount  de  La  Rochefoucauld  perceived 
it  clearly.  He  wrote  to  the  King,  13th  October, 
1825:  — 

"  The  interior  of  France,  as  regards  commerce, 
agriculture,  industry,  wealth,  offers  a  most  striking 
spectacle.  Let  Charles  X.,  as  King  and  father,  rejoice 
in  his  work ;  but  let  him  reflect  that  the  lightest 
sleep  would  be  followed  by  a  terrible   awakening." 

The  12th  of  January,  1826,  when  his  father-in-law, 
the  Duke  Mathieu  de  Montmorency,  had  just  been 
named  governor  to  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux,  M.  de  La 
Rochefoucauld  again  wrote  to  the  King :  — 

"Shall  I  thank  the  King  for  the  nomination   of 


214  THE  BUCTIESS   OF  BERRY 

M.  de  Montmorency?  Six  months  ago,  it  would 
have  been  useful.  To-day,  it  is  merely  good.  But 
alas,  how  far  is  that  interesting  Prince  from  the 
crown !  and  what  shocks  and  revolutions  he  must 
traverse  first.  If  ever  —  God  watch  over  France; 
the  Orleans  are  making  frightful  progress." 

The  sisfns  of  the  coming;  storm  accumulated  in 
the  most  alarming  manner.  Read  this  other  report 
of  the  Viscount  de  La  Rochefoucauld  (August  8, 
1826):  — 

"Indifference  to  religion,  hatred  of  the  priests, 
were  the  symptoms  of  the  Revolution.  God  grant 
that  the  same  things  do  not  bring  the  same  results. 
The  unfortunate  priests  no  longer  dare  to  go  through 
the  streets;  they  are  everywhere  insulted.  Three 
days  since,  a  well-dressed  man,  passing  by  the  sen- 
tinel of  the  Luxembourg  said  to  him,  pointing  to  a 
priest:  '  Never  mind;  in  a  year  you'll  see  no  more  of 
all  these  wretches.'  The  poor  Curd  of  Clichy  was 
in  real  danger,  surrounded  by  two  or  three  hundred 
madmen,  who  cried ;  '  Down  with  the  black-hats ! ' 
Every  day  there  is  a  scene  of  the  same  sort." 

The  popularity  of  Charles  X.,  so  great  at  the  begin- 
ning of  his  reign,  was  dwindling  every  day  at  Paris. 
M.  de  La  Rochefoucauld  did  not  fear  to  declare  it  to 
him. 

"  By  what  inconceivable  fatality  is  it,"  he  wrote, 
February  6,  1827,  "  that  the  king  amid  all  the  care 
he  takes  to  ensure  the  happiness  of  his  people,  is 
losing  from  day  to  day  in  their  love  and  affection  ? 


THE  FIRST  DISQUIETUDE  215 

At  the  play  —  and  it  is  there,  to  use  an  expression 
of  Napoleon,  that  the  pulse  of  public  opinion  is  to  be 
felt  —  the  most  seditious  and  hostile  allusions  are 
eagerly  caught  up.  Saturday  last,  verses,  of  which 
the  sense  was  that  kings  who  have  lost  the  love  of 
their  people  encounter  only  silence  and  coldness,  were 
greeted  with  triple  applause  and  furiously  encored," 

The  report  of  May  12, 1827,  was  like  an  alarm  bell: 

"Circumstances  are  so  grave  that  the  calmest 
minds  betray  fear  regarding  them ;  there  are  now 
but  one  opinion  and  one  feeling,  —  doubt  and  fear. 
It  is  said  openly,  as  eight  years  since :  This  branch 
cannot  keep  the  crown ;  it  is  impossible ;  who  will 
succeed  it  ?  How  many  things,  great  Heavens,  done 
in  eight  years ;  how  many  things  forgotten  !  " 

Exposed  to  an  outpouring  of  enmities  and  of 
incessant  intrigues,  taken  between  tAvo  fires, — the 
extreme  Right  and  the  Left,  —  M.  de  Villele  no  longer 
had  the  strength  to  govern.  His  ministry  was  about 
to  come  to  an  end.  Later,  in  retracing  in  his  journal 
this  phase  of  his  career,  he  wrote :  — 

"  All  that  took  place  was  of  a  feebleness  destructive 
of  all  government,  and  disheartening  for  him  who 
bears  all  the  responsibility  for  it,  with  the  weight  of 
affairs  besides.  But  he  was  not,  and  did  not  pretend 
to  be,  the  Cardinal  Richelieu.  He  had  not  his  charac- 
ter, nor  his  ambition,  nor  his  superior  gifts.  He  did 
not  even  envy  them.  Had  he  been  quite  different 
in  this  regard,  to  repress  and  annul  his  king,  to 
oppress  the  daughter  of  Louis  XVI.  and  the  widow 


216  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

of  the  Duke  of  Berry,  to  exile  from  France  tlie  new 
Gaston  d'Orldans,  and  his  numerous  family,  to  bring 
down  the  heads  of  the  court  pygmies, — more  danger- 
ous, perhaps,  with  their  influence  over  the  King  and 
his  family  and  their  vexatious  intrigues  in  the  Court 
of  Peers  than  the  Montmorencys  and  the  Cinq-Mars, 
—  this  was  a  rOle  to  which  he  never  aspired  and 
would  not  have  accepted." 

Charles  X.  sacrificed  M.  de  Villele,  who,  however, 
had  his  sympathy,  and  replaced  him  with  a  liberal 
minister,  perhaps  with  a  mental  reservation  as  to  a 
ministry,  before  long,  from  the  extreme  Right.  The 
retiring  minister  wished  to  remain  in  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  to  defend  his  acts.  For  their  part,  his 
successors,  fearing  his  influence  in  that  body,  wished 
his  transfer  to  the  Chamber  of  Peers,  where,  in  their 
judgment,  he  would  be  less  dangerous.  At  the  last 
Council  of  Ministers  attended  by  M.  de  Villele,  the 
King  passed  to  him  a  note  in  pencil,  announcing  that 
he  had  called  him  to  the  peerage.  The  statesman 
declined,  in  a  note  also  in  pencil.  "  You  wish  then 
to  impose  yourself  upon  me  as  minister?"  wrote  the 
King  once  more.  M.  de  Villele  appeared  moved,  and 
passed  to  the  sovereign  this  response :  "  The  King  well 
knows  the  contrary;  but  since  he  can  write  it,  let 
him  do  with  me  what  he  will."  The  next  day  the 
Martignac  ministry  entered  on  its  duties,  and  the 
Duchess  of  Angouleme  said  to  Charles  X. :  "  It  is 
true,  then,  that  you  are  letting  Villele  go?  My 
father,  you  descend  to-day  the  first  step  of  the  throne." 


XXII 

THE  MAKTIGNAC   MINISTRY 

MDE  MARTIGNAC,  who  succeeded  M.  de 
•  Villele  in  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior,  was 
a  man  of  merit,  honest,  liberal,  and  sincerely  devoted 
to  the  King.  Born  in  1776,  at  Bordeaux,  he  was  at 
first  an  advocate  at  the  bar  of  that  city,  and  at  the 
same  time  made  himself  known  by  some  witty  vaude- 
villes. On  the  return  of  the  Bourbons,  he  entered 
the  magistracy,  became  procureur-general  at  Limoges, 
was  elected  a  deputy  in  1821,  and  distinguished  him- 
self in  the  tribune.  He  was  Minister  of  the  Interior 
from  January,  1828,  to  August,  1829,  and  his  name 
was  given  to  the  ministry  of  which  he  was  a  member. 
He  had  for  colleagues  enlightened  and  moderate  men, 
such  as  Count  Angus te  de  La  Ferronnays,  M.  Roy, 
Count  Portalis.  He  tried  to  reconcile  the  different 
parties,  and  to  preserve  the  throne  from  the  double 
danger  of  reaction  and  revolution.  Taken  between 
two  fires,  the  extreme  Right  and  the  extreme  Left, 
he  was  destined  to  fail  in  his  generous  effort. 

The  royalist  sentiment  was  becoming  constantly 
more  feeble.  The  24tli  of  January,  1828,  some  days 
after  the  formation  of   the  iSIartignac  ministry,  the 

217 


218  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

Viscount  Sostli^iies  de  La  Rochefoucauld  wrote,  in  a 
report  to  the  King :  — 

"  In  going  to  Saint-Denis,  the  21st  of  January  (the 
anniversary  of  the  death  of  Louis  XVI.),  and  seeing 
the  lightness  with  which  the  court  itself  conducted 
itself  there,  it  was  impossible  for  me  not  to  make 
many  reflections  on  the  futility  of  an  age  in  which  no 
memory  is  sacred.  And  by  what  right  can  the  people 
be  asked  to  have  a  better  memory  when  such  an 
example  is  given  to  them  ?  No  cortege,  no  coaches 
draped,  none  of  the  pomp  that  strikes  the  imagination 
and  the  eye.  Some  isolated  carriages,  passing  rapidly 
over  the  route,  as  if  every  one  longed  to  be  more 
promptly  rid  of  whatever  is  grave  and  mournful  in 
this  day  of  cruel  memor3^" 

The  ultras  were  thinking  much  less  of  the  real 
interests  of  the  monarchy  than  of  their  own  spites 
and  their  personal  ambitions. 

These  pretended  supports  of  the  throne  were 
digging  the  abyss  in  which  the  throne  was  to  be 
swallowed  up.  Charles  X.,  blinded,  was  already 
thinking  of  calling  the  Prince  de  Polignac  to  power, 
and  regarded  the  Martignac  ministry  as  a  provisional 
expedient.  To  the  despair  of  the  members  of  this 
ministry,  he  maintained  relations  with  M.  de  Villele, 
whose  fall  he  regretted.  After  the  opening  of  the 
session,  he  wrote  to  his  former  minister,  February  6, 
1828 : — 

"  What  do  you  think  of  my  discourse  ?  I  did  my 
bestj  but  as  it  was  a  success  with  some  persons  of 


THE  MAETIGNAC  MINISTRY  219 

doubtful  opinions,  I  am  afraid  that  it  is  not  worth 
much.  Everything  appears  to  me  so  confused,  that  I 
know  not  what  to  count  upon.  The  eulogies  of  the 
BShats  and  the  Constitutionnel  make  me  fear  I  have 
said  stupid  things.  Yet  I  hope  not,  and  I  shall  con- 
tinue to  arrest  with  firmness  what  may  lead  to  dan- 
gerous concessions." 

On  the  other  hand,  if  there  were  among  the  liberals 
some  sincere  and  well-intentioned  men,  who  meant  to 
remain  faithful  alike  to  the  throne  and  the  Charter, 
there  were  others  who  already  masked  treachery 
under  the  appearance  of  devotion  to  the  King. 
Those  who  two  years  later  were  to  boast  of  having 
labored  during  the  entire  restoration  for  the_  ruin  of 
the  elder  branch,  —  actors  in  the  comedy  of  fifteen 
years,  as  they  called  themselves,  —  gave  themselves 
out,  in  1828,  as  partisans  and  enthusiastic  admirers 
of  Charles  X.  At  the  commencement  of  the  session 
a  deputy  of  the  Left,  having  affected  to  say  in  the 
tribune  that  the  King  had  not  a  single  enemy,  the 
Right  permitted  itself  some  exclamations  of  doubt. 
One  of  its  members,  M.  de  Marinhac,  cried :  "  As  a 
good  prince  I  believe  that  His  Majesty  has  no  ene- 
mies, but  as  King,  he  has  many,  and  I  know  them," 
added  he,  looking  at  his  opponents.  The  entire  Left 
was  indignant,  and  caused  the  orator  to  be  called  to 
order.  M.  Dupin  thanked  tlie  president,  and  said  in 
an  agitated  voice :  "  It  is  a  calumny,  an  insult,  that 
we  cannot  endure.  Nothing  wounds  as  more  than  to 
hear  ourselves  accused  of  being  the  enemies  of  him 
whom  we  adore,  cherish,  bless." 


220  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

The  tactics  of  the  Opposition  were  to  flatter  the 
King,  but  to  disarm  him  and  to  make  him  look  on 
those  who  were  really  revolutionists  as  ministerialists. 
M.  de  Martignac  was  a  man  of  good  faith,  but  many 
who  boasted  of  supporting  him  were  not  so,  and  per- 
haps M.  de  Villele  was  right  when  he  wrote  to 
Charles  X.  in  June,  1828  :  — 

"  I  could  serve  Your  Majesty  only  with  the  light 
and  the  character  God  has  given  me.  It  would  have 
been,  it  would  be,  impossible  for  me  to  believe  that 
authority  can  be  maintained  by  concessions  and  by 
leaning  on  those  who  wish  to  overthrow  it." 

Meanwhile  there  were  still  some  fine  days  for  the 
old  King.  His  journey  in  the  departments  of  the 
east,  in  1828,  was  a  continual  ovation  that  recalled 
to  him  the  enthusiasm  of  the  beginning  of  his  reign. 
Setting  out  from  Saint  Cloud  the  31st  of  August,  he 
arrived  at  Metz  the  3d  of  September.  All  the  houses 
of  this  great  military  city  were  hung  with  the  white 
flag  adorned  with  fleurs-de-lis.  After  having  visited 
some  of  the  fortifications,  Charles  X.,  following  the 
ramparts,  came  to  an  elegant  pavilion  erected  on  the 
site  of  the  ancient  citadel.  Long  covered  seats  were 
arranged  for  the  ladies  of  the  city;  a  prodigious 
number  of  spectators  occupied  the  ramparts.  In  the 
presence  of  the  sovereign  a  regiment  made  a  simu- 
lated attack  on  a  "demi-lune"  and  a  bastion. 

On  September  6,  Saverne  arranged  a  very  pictur- 
esque reception  for  the  King.  All  the  cantons  and 
all  the  communes  sent  thither,  together  with  their 


THE  MARTIGNAC  MINISTRY  221 

mayors  and  their  richest  farmers,  their  prettiest  vil- 
lage girls  in  Alsatian  costume.  Five  hundred  peas- 
ants, clad  in  red  vest  and  long  black  coat,  the  head 
covered  with  a  great  hat  turned  up  on  one  side,  a 
white  ribbon  tied  about  the  left  arm,  were  on  horse- 
back at  the  place  of  meeting.  The  young  girls, 
bearing  flags  and  garlands,  were  brought  in  wagons, 
each  containing  a  dozen  or  sixteen.  In  other  wagons 
were  the  musicians.  The  pretty  Alsaciennes  pre- 
sented the  monarch  with  a  basket  of  flowers ;  then 
he  breakfasted  with  the  authorities,  and,  at  a  signal, 
fires  were  lighted  at  the  same  time  on  the  plain  and 
on  the  surrounding  mountains. 

The  7th  of  September,  Charles  X.  entered  Stras- 
bourg in  triumph.  At  a  league  from  the  city,  on  a 
height  from  which  it  Avas  to  be  seen,  and  whence  the 
wooded  hills  of  the  Black  Forest  were  visible,  he  was 
awaited  by  a  crowd  of  young  girls  in  Alsatian  cos- 
tume, in  three  hundred  wagons,  with  four  or  six 
horses  to  each.  There  were  also  twelve  hundred 
horsemen,  divided  into  squadrons,  the  mayors  with 
their  scarfs  at  their  head  and  carrying  the  fleur-de- 
lis  standards.  The  royal  cortege  passed,  under  arbors 
of  verdure  and  flowers,  amid  this  long  file  of  vehicles 
and  horsemen,  who  escorted  it  to  the  walls  of  Stras- 
bourg. Delighted  with  the  enthusiasm  of  which  he 
was  the  object,  the  sovereign  proceeded  to  the  Cathe- 
dral, where  a  Te  Deum  was  sung.  In  the  evening  the 
spire  of  this  marvellous  church  was  illuminated :  it 
was  like  a  pyramid  of  stars. 


22-2  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

The  King  of  Wiirtemberg,  the  Grand  Duke  of 
Baden,  and  his  three  brothers  came  to  greet  the  King 
of  France  in  the  capital  of  Alsace.  He  showed  them 
at  the  arsenal  sixteen  hundred  pieces  of  ordnance 
on  their  carriages,  and  arms  sufficient  for  a  hundred 
thousand  men. 

"  Sire,  and  gentlemen,"  he  said  with  a  smile,  in 
which  kingly  pride  mingled  with  perfect  urbanity, 
"  I  have  nothing  to  conceal  from  you.  This  is  some- 
thing I  can  show  to  my  friends  as  to  my  enemies." 

Yes,  France  was  great  then,  and  no  one  could  have 
predicted  for  Alsace  the  fate  reserved  for  her  forty- 
two  years  later.  The  army  was  the  admiration  of 
Europe.  The  navy  had  just  recaptured  at  Navarino 
the  prestige  and  power  of  the  time  of  Louis  XVI. 
Charles  X.  said  to  Mr.  Hyde  de  Neuville :  — 

"France,  when  a  noble  design  is  involved,  takes 
counsel  only  with  herself.  Thus  whether  England 
wishes  or  not,  we  shall  free  Greece.  Continue  the 
armaments  with  the  same  activity.  I  shall  not  pause 
in  the  path  of  humanity  and  honor." 

And  at  the  moment  when  the  very  Christian  King 
was  greeted  by  the  German  Princes  in  the  Alsatian 
capital,  his  victorious  troops  were  completing  in  the 
Morea  the  enfranchisement  of  Greece. 

Charles  X.  returned  by  Colmar,  Lundville,  Nancy, 
and  Champagne.  At  Troyes  he  found  himself  sur- 
rounded by  all  the  liberal  deputies,  and  he  deco- 
rated Casimir  Pdrier.  Everywhere  he  had  an  enthu- 
siastic welcome.     On  his  return  to  Saint  Cloud  he 


THE  MAETIGNAC  MINISTRY  223 

was  warmly  congratulated  by  all  his  coui-t.  Never- 
theless, as  the  Duchess  of  Gontaut  said  to  him :  — 

"  Sire,  you  must  be  happy."  —  "  What  do  cheers  sig- 
nify?" he  answered,  not  without  sadness.  "These 
demonstrations,  all  superficial,  should  not  dazzle  —  a 
friendly  gesture  of  the  hand,  a  prince's,  a  king's,  ex- 
pression of  satisfaction  will  obtain  them." 

Despite  this  philosophic  reflection,  Charles  X.  was 
triumphant.  If  his  ministers  wished  to  credit  their 
liberal  policy  with  the  ovations  he  had  received  in 
the  east,  he  called  their  attention  to  the  fact  that  he 
had  been  not  less  well  received  the  year  before  under 
the  Villele  ministry  at  the  time  of  his  visit  to  the 
camp  of  Saint  Omer.  In  the  enthusiasm  manifested 
by  the  people,  he  saw  an  homage  to  the  monarchical 
principle,  not  to  the  policy  of  one  or  another  minis- 
try. 

"You  hear  these  people.  Do  they  shout  hurrah 
for  the  Charter  ?  No,  they  cry  long  live  the  King  !  " 
Still  confident  of  the  future,  he  wished  to  persuade 
himself  that  the  obstacles  piled  up  before  his  dynasty 
were  but  clouds  that  a  favorable  wind  would  scatter 
soon.  "  Ah,  Monsieur  de  Martignac,"  he  cried,  with 
deep  joy,  "  what  a  nation  I  what  should  we  not  do  for 
it!" 

At  the  moment  that  Charles  X.  traversed  the 
provinces  of  the  east  in  triumph,  the  Duchess  of 
Berry  was  making  in  the  west  a  journey  not  less 
brilliant  than  that  of  the  sovereign. 


XXIII 

THE  JOURNEY  IN  THE  WEST 

nVTEVER  was  a  princely  journey  more  triumphal 
-L.y  than  that  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry  in  the  prov- 
inces of  the  west  in  1828.  Madame,  who  left  Paris 
June  16,  returned  there  October  1,  and  there  was  not 
a  day  in  these  three  months  that  she  was  not  the 
object  of  enthusiastic  ovations.  In  a  book  of  nearly 
six  hundred  pages.  Viscount  Walsh  has  described, 
with  the  fidelity  of  a  Dangeau,  this  journey  in  which 
the  mother  of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  was  treated  like 
a  queen  of  a  fairy  tale. 

The  16th  of  June,  the  Princess  slept  at  Ram- 
bouillet,  where  two  years  later  such  cruel  trials  were  to 
come  to  her.  The  18th,  she  visited  Chambord,  where 
she  was  received  by  Count  Adrien  de  Calonne,  the 
author  of  the  project  of  the  subscription,  thanks  to 
which  this  historic  chateau  became  the  property  of 
the  Duke  of  Bordeaux. 

In  the  face  of  the  wind,  which  was  blowing  with 
force,  Madame  ascended  to  the  highest  point  of  the 
ch§,teau,  the  platform  of  the  lantern  called  Fleur-de- 
Lis  at  the  end  of  the  famous  double  balustered  stair- 
case. From  there  her  glance  wandered  over  the  vast 
224 


THE  JOURNEY  IN   THE   WEST  225 

extent  of  the  park,  with  a  circumference  of  eight 
leagues,  and  enclosing,  besides  six  or  seven  thousand 
acres  of  woodland,  twenty-three  farms,  whose  build- 
ings, cultivated  fields,  and  scattered  flocks,  animated 
the  view  in  all  directions.  On  descending,  she  said : 
"  I  should  like  to  mark  my  name  here ;  I  shall  love 
to  see  it  again  when  I  come  to  visit  the  Duke  of  Bor- 
deaux." And  with  a  stiletto  she  cut  these  words : 
"  18th  June  —  Marie  Caroline."  Some  young  girls 
presented  her  with  lambs  white  as  snow,  decorated 
with  green  and  white  ribbons,  and  with  a  tame  roe, 
on  whose  collar  was  engraved :  "  Homage  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Cliambord."  The  same  day  she  paid  visits  at 
their  chateaux  to  Marshal  Victor,  Duke  of  Bellune, 
and  to  the  Duke  d'Avaray.  In  the  evening  she 
returned  to  Blois.  Madame  left  there  the  19th  of 
June,  after  examining  the  Salle  des  Etats,  the  room 
in  which  the  Duke  of  Guise  was  assassinated,  and 
the  tower  where  Catharine  de'  Medici  used  to  consult 
the  astrologers.  The  20th,  she  attended  at  Saumur  a 
brilliant  tournament  given  in  her  honor  by  the  Cavalry 
School.  The  21st,  she  entered  Angers  amid  shouts 
and  cheers.  The  22d,  she  visited  the  chateau  of 
Count  Walsh  de  Serrant.  Her  carriage  passed  under 
vaults  of  verdure  adorned  with  flowers  and  banners. 
The  Princess  arrived  the  same  day  at  Saint  Florent, 
which,  in  1793,  had  given  the  signal  for  the  war  of  the 
Vendue,  and  where  the  Venddan  army  had  effected 
the  famous  passage  of  the  Loire,  comparable  to  that 
of  the  Berezina.     There  the  asred  witnesses  of  the 


226  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

struggles  described  by  Napoleon  as  "  a  war  of  giants," 
had  assembled  near  the  tomb  of  Bonchamp  to  await 
the  Duchess  of  Berry.  All  the  neighboring  heights 
were  bristling  with  white  flags.  From  afar  they  were 
seen  fluttering  on  the  church-towers,  on  the  chS,teaux, 
over  cottages,  on  isolated  trees.  They  were  to  be 
seen  even  above  the  graves  in  the  cemeteries.  A  son 
had  said:  "  My  father  died  for  the  white  flag ;  let  us 
plant  it  on  his  grave ;  the  dead  should  rejoice,  for 
Madame  comes  to  honor  their  fidelity."  The  example 
was  followed,  and  the  tombs  bore  the  rallying  sign  of 
those  who  rested  there.  When  on  the  borders  of  the 
Loire,  the  Princess  paused  a  moment,  struck  with  the 
majesty  of  the  scene.  The  cannon  mingled  their  noble 
voices  with  the  acclamations  of  fifteen  thousand 
Vend^ans.  The  stream  was  covered  with  a  swarm 
of  boats,  dressed  with  flags.  A  magnificent  sun 
lighted  up  this  fete. 

It  was  ten  o'clock  when  Madame  arrived  at  Mille- 
raye,  opposite  Saint  Florent.  It  was  there  that 
General  de  Bonchamp,  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  Ven- 
due, had  given  up  his  soul  to  God.  The  cottage 
where  the  soldiers  had  laid  him  to  die  was  shown. 
His  widow  awaited  the  Duchess  of  Berry.  What 
contrast  between  the  festivity  of  Saint  Florent  and 
the  consternation  of  the  days  of  grief  and  misfortune, 
when,  in  October,  1793,  its  people  fled  to  the  right 
bank  of  the  Loire,  leaving  their  houses  a  prey  to  the 
flames !  The  cries  of  distress  and  despair  which 
sounded  alongf  the  banks  of  the  stream  in  that  fatal 


THE  JOURNEY  IN   THE   WEST  227 

year,  x/eve  now  replaced  by  sliouts  of  joy.  Madame 
embarked  amid  cheers.  Her  boat  was  escorted  by  a 
great  number  of  others,  six  of  which  contained  Ven- 
d^ans  bearing  flags  torn  by  bullets  in  the  battles  of 
Fontenay  and  of  Torfou,  of  Laval,  and  of  Dol. 
Grouped  on  the  hill-slopes  of  Saint  Florent,  more 
than  fifteen  thousand  spectators  followed  with  their 
gaze  the  flotilla,  in  the  midst  of  which  they  saw  the 
Duchess  of  Berry,  standing,  visibly  agitated.  She 
landed  upon  the  plateau  of  Saint  Florent,  and 
ascended  on  foot  the  hill  that  led  to  it.  When  she 
reached  the  summit,  she  found  herself  in  the  midst  of 
a  camp  of  five  thousand  Vend^ian  soldiers  who  had 
taken  part  in  the  war  of  1793  or  in  the  arming  of 
1815.  There  it  was  that  Cathelineau,  as  in  the  time 
of  the  crusades,  cried :  "  It  is  God's  will.  Let  us 
march ! "  —  "  Oh,  what  a  people  !  "  said  the  Princess. 
"  What  fine  and  honest  faces !  What  an  accent  in 
their  cries  of  'Long  live  the  King!'  Yes,  plainly 
they  love  us."  She  proceeded  to  the  church  of  Saint 
Florent,  where,  kneeling  beneath  a  canopy,  she  heard 
Mass.  She  regarded  with  attention  the  tomb  of  Bon- 
champ,  and  said,  as  she  beheld  his  statue :  "  He  looks 
as  if  he  were  still  commanding." 

On  leaving  the  church,  she  went  to  see  the  place 
where  Bonchamp  is  buried,  and,  under  a  tent,  partook 
of  a  repast  offered  her  by  the  Countess  d'Auti- 
champ.  She  had  recounted  to  her  in  detail  the 
celebrated  passage  of  the  Loire,  the  disastrous  period 
when  all  the  city  of  Saint  Florent  was  burned  by 


228  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BETIRT 

— — ■ \ 

order  of  the  Convention,  and  the  only  house  left 
standing  was  the  one  occupied  by  the  republican  Gen- 
eral Ldchello  as  his  headquarters. 

At  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  Madame  em- 
barked anew  on  the  steamboat  awaiting  her  at  the 
point  of  Varades,  and  proceeded  in  this  way  to  Nantes. 
The  inhabitants  from  the  two  banks  of  the  stream 
greeted  her  upon  her  passage.  The  red  aprons  and 
white  caps  of  the  women  contrasted,  in  the  landscape, 
with  the  sombre  costume  of  the  men.  That  she 
might  be  better  recognized  by  the  crowd,  the  Prin- 
cess, clad  in  a  simple  robe  of  brown  silk,  with  a  long 
chain  of  gold  at  the  neck,  separated  herself  from  her 
suite,  mounted  to  the  highest  point  on  the  boat,  and 
greeted  with  voice  and  gesture  all  these  faithful 
people.  The  men  waved  banners  and  standards. 
The  women  raised  their  little  children  in  their  arms 
and  said  :  "  Look  at  her  well ;  it's  the  mother  of  the 
Duke  of  Bordeaux." 

The  people  seemed  to  walk  upon  the  water  to  get 
a  nearer  view  of  Madame.  Not  a  rock  pushing  out 
into  the  stream  that  was  not  occupied.  Where  the 
Loire  was  too  wide  for  the  features  of  the  Princess  to 
be  seen  from  the  shore,  the  dwellers  on  the  banks 
had,  so  to  speak,  brought  them  together,  by  forming 
in  the  middle  of  the  stream  streets  of  boats,  with 
their  flags  and  their  triumphal  arches.  At  a  league 
from  Saint  Florent  a  rock  juts  into  the  water  of  the 
Loire.  Here  was  an  aged  Venddan,  all  alone,  his 
white  hair  fluttering  in  the  wind.     Erect  upon  the 


THE  JOURNEY  IN    THE    WEST  229 

rock,  he  was  holding  a  white  flag,  and  at  his  feet  was 
a  dog.  It  was,  according  to  the  Moniteur^  a  symbol 
of  faithful  Vendue. 

The  same  day,  June  22,  at  seven  in  the  evening, 
the  Princess  reached  Nantes.  She  passed  on  foot 
from  the  Port  Maillard  to  the  Prefecture,  and  had 
difficulty  in  getting  through  the  innumerable  multi- 
tude. The  next  day  she  was  at  Savenay,  where,  on 
leaving  the  church,  she  paused  to  contemplate  the 
monument  raised  to  the  memory  of  the  victims  of  the 
battle  of  the  23d  of  September,  1793.  The  24th,  she 
went  to  Saint  Anne  d'Auray,  a  pilgrimage  venerated 
throughout  all  Brittany,  and  visited  the  Champ  des 
Marti/rs,  the  little  plain  where  thirty-three  years  be- 
fore, the  emigres  taken  at  Quiberon  had  been  shot, 
despite  their  capitulation.  When  Madame  appeared 
on  the  consecrated  field,  the  crowd  cheered  her,  then 
became  still,  and  amid  solemn  silence,  sang  the  De 
Profundis. 

The  25th,  the  Princess  was  at  Lorient,  and  there 
laid  the  corner-stone  of  the  monument  erected  to 
Bisson,  the  lieutenant  of  the  navy  who,  in  the  Greek 
expedition,  October,  1827,  being  charged  with  the 
command  of  a  brig  taken  from  the  Turks  by  Admiral 
de  Rigny's  fleet,  blew  up  the  vessel,  with  the  crew, 
rather  than  surrender.  After  visiting  Rennes,  she 
returned  to  Nantes,  the  28th  of  June.  A  triumphal 
arch  had  been  constructed  on  the  Place  des  Changes, 
with  this  inscription  :  "  Lilies  for  our  Bourbons. 
Laurels  for  Henry.     Roses  for  Louise."     The  flower 


230  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

and  fruit  girls  had  written  on  tlieir  arch  of  verdure : 
"  Our  flowers,  our  fruits,  our  hearts,  are  Madame's." 
The  29th,  the  Duchess  attended  a  magnificent  ball 
given  by  the  city.  The  next  day  she  visited  the 
Trappist  Convent  at  Melleray.  It  was  difficult  to 
persuade  her  to  go  away.  "  Where  shall  I  find  more 
happiness  than  here  ?  "  she  said.  "  Elsewhere  there 
are  pleasures  and  distractions,  but  none  here.  Since 
I  make  them  happy,  I  would  remain ;  and  I  am  very 
well  pleased." 

The  30th,  at  evening,  Madame  arrived  at  Tr^mici- 
niere,  at  the  house  of  the  Countess  de  Charette,  the 
sister-in-law  of  the  famous  Venddan  chief.  July  1, 
she  entered  Bocage.  From  there  no  more  wide  roads, 
no  more  cities  of  easy  approach;  bad  ways,  long 
distances  without  relays,  obstacles  of  all  sorts.  Clad 
in  a  green  riding-habit,  with  a  gray  felt  hat  and  a 
gauze  veil,  Madame  galloped  between  Madame  de  la 
Rochejaquelein  and  Madame  de  Charette.  At  her 
arrival  at  Saint  Hilaire,  the  Marquis  de  Foresta, 
Prefect  of  La  Vendue,  said  to  her:  "Madame  does 
not  like  phrases ;  La  Vendue  does  not  make  them ;  it 
has  but  one  sentiment  and  one  cry  to  express  it: 
Long  live  the  King !  Long  live  Madame !  Forever 
live  the  Bourbons  !  " 

The  peasants  never  wearied  of  admiring  her  in- 
trepidity. When  her  horse,  excited  by  the  cries  and 
the  beating  of  the  drums,  pranced  and  reared,  they 
were  heard  to  say :  "  Oh !  the  brave  little  woman ; 
she  is  not  frightened."     A  villager  exclaimed:    "I 


THE  JOURNEY  IN   THE   WEST  231 

have  never  regretted  my  old  father  so  much  as  to- 
day; one  day  like  this  would  have  repaid  him  for 
all  the  hardships  he  suffered." 

Madame  passed  the  night  at  the  Chateau  of  La- 
grange, the  property  of  the  jMarquis  de  Goulaine. 
On  entering  her  chamber  she  found  by  her  bed  a 
night-lamp,  with  this  motto :  "  Rest  tranquilly ;  La 
Vendue  is  watching." 

On  the  3d  of  July,  she  visited  the  Champ  des 
Mattes,  where  in  1815  the  Marquis  Louis  de  La 
Rochejaquelein  was  killed  at  the  head  of  the  Ven- 
d^ans  in  insurrection  against  Napoleon.  The  same 
day  she  was  at  Bourbon- Vendee.  The  5th  of  July,  at 
the  crossing  of  the  Quatre  Chemins,  in  sight  of  the 
roads  from  Nantes,  from  Bourbon,  from  Saumur,  and 
from  La  Rochelle,  she  laid  the  first  stone  of  a  monu- 
ment to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  Vend^an  vic- 
tories. She  returned  afterward  to  the  Chateau  de 
Mesnard,  the  property  of  her  first  equerry,  the  one 
who  traced  so  well  the  itinerary  of  her  journey.  All 
the  inhabitants  of  the  bourg  of  Mesnard  had  taken 
part  in  the  great  Vend^an  war,  and,  their  cur^  at 
their  head,  marched  as  far  as  Granville.  The  mother 
of  the  first  equerry,  then  a  widow,  and  whose  two 
sons  were  in  the  army  of  Condd,  had  followed  her 
former  peasants,  with  her  daughter,  and  died  at 
Lagrande  at  the  time  of  the  disastrous  retreat. 
Madame  de  la  Rochejaquelein,  in  her  Memoirs, 
speaks  of  the  sad  state  in  which  she  saw  her.  In 
memory  of  so   much  devotion,  Madame   wished   to 


lol  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

open  a  bal  champetre  with  a  veteran  of  the  bourg  of 
INIesnard. 

That  night  the  Princess  slept  at  the  Chateau  of 
Landebaudiere,  belonging  to  Count  Auguste  de  La 
Rochejaquelein.  Everywhere  the  villagers  came  to 
the  gates  of  the  chateaipc  to  enlist  in  their  joys  as 
formerly  they  had  enlisted  in  their  combats,  —  Lescure, 
La  Rochejaquelein,  d'Elbde,  Charette.  The  6th, 
Madame  visited  the  field  of  the  battle  of  Torfou. 
A  former  officer  of  the  army  of  La  Vendde,  noting 
that  she  wore  a  green  riding-habit,  said  to  her: 
"  We  were  always  attached  to  our  uniform,  but  we 
cherish  it  more  than  ever  to-day,  when  we  see  that 
we  wear  the  colors  of  Madame."  —  "Gentlemen," 
replied  the  Princess,  "  I  have  adopted  your  uni- 
form." She  breakfasted  in  the  open  air,  amid  the 
Venddans  under  arms. 

Madame  continued  her  journey  on  horseback. 
Nothing  could  stop  her,  neither  oppressive  heat  nor 
rain-storms.  When  she  was  spoken  to  of  her  fatigues, 
"It  is  only  fair,"  she  responded,  "that  I  should 
give  myself  a  little  trouble  to  make  the  acquaint- 
ance of  those  who  have  shed  their  blood  for  us." 
Most  of  the  time  she  took  her  repast  in  the  open 
air.  The  peasants  strolled  around  the  table  and 
fired  salutes  with  their  old  muskets;  for  in  Ven- 
due there  is  no  fete  witliout  powder.  Then  to  the 
sound  of  the  hiniou  and  of  the  veze  they  moved  in 
joyous  dances  in  which  the  daughter  of  kings  did 
not  disdain  to  take  part.     On  entering  every  village 


THE  JOUBJSEY  IN   THE    WEST  233 

she  was  greeted  by  the  cm-^s  of  the  parish  and  the 
neighboring  parishes.  Nearly  all  were  old  soldiers 
whose  hands  had  borne  the  sword  before  carrying 
the  cross. 

Near  the  boundaries  of  the  department  of  La 
Loire-Infdrieure  Madame  alighted.  "  Here  is  a 
farm,"  she  said ;  "  let  us  knock  and  ask  for  some 
milk."  The  doors  were  not  closed.  On  entering 
the  room  of  the  farm-wife,  —  who  was  absent,  —  the 
Princess  found  only  a  very  little  infant  asleep  and 
swaddled  in  a  cradle.  Then  she  seated  herself  on 
a  stool,  and  after  the  fashion  of  the  country,  set 
herself  to  rocking,  with  her  foot,  the  babe  of  the 
poor  peasant-woman.  The  6th  of  July,  at  nine  in 
the  evening,  she  reached  Beaupr^au.  The  city, 
built  in  the  form  of  an  amphitheatre,  was  illu- 
minated ;  an  immense  bonfii-e  had  been  lighted. 
The  next  day  Madame  laid  the  corner-stone  of  a 
monument  in  honor  of  d'Elb^e,  and  saluted  at  Pin- 
en-Mauges,  the  statue  of  Cathelineau.  The  8th  of 
July,  she  was  at  the  Chateau  of  Maul^vrier,  whose 
owner,  M.  de  Colbert,  had  erected  a  monument  to 
the  memory  of  StoflQet,  the  heroic  huntsman.  The 
same  day,  at  Saint  Aubin,  she  laid  the  first  stone 
of  another  monument  raised  to  the  four  heroes  of 
La  Vendue,  —  Dornissan,  Lescure,  Henry  and  Louis 
de  La  Rochejaquelein. 

The  10th  of  July,  the  Princess  was  at  Lu9on, 
the  11th  at  La  Rochelle,  the  12th  at  Rochefort, 
the    13th   at   Blaye,    the    14th   at    Bordeaux.     The 


234  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERBY 

"faithful  city,"  as  the  capital  of  the  Giionde  was 
then  named,  distinguished  itself  by  its  enthusiasm. 
A  little  girl  of  eight  years,  Mademoiselle  du 
Hamel,  surrounded  by  her  young  companions, 
daughters  of  members  of  the  municipal  government 
read  a  welcome  to  the  mother  of  the  Duke  of  Bor- 
deaux as  follows :  — 

"  Madame,  while  our  fathers  have  the  honor  to 
offer  you  their  hearts  and  their  arms,  permit  us, 
children,  to  offer  to  you  the  flowers  and  the  prayers 
of  innocence.  In  choosing  me  as  their  interpre- 
ter, my  young  companions  have  doubtless  wished 
to  recall  to  you  an  angel  who  is  dear  to  you;  but 
if  alone  of  them  all  I  have  the  fortune  to  count 
the  same  number  of  years  as  Mademoiselle,  we  all 
rival  each  other  in  cherishing  you,  we  all  repeat 
with  an  enthusiasm  rendered  purer  and  more  sim- 
ple by  our  age.  Long  live  the  King !  Long  live 
Madame ! " 

In  the  evening  the  "  Mother  of  the  Little  Duke," 
as  the  Bordelais  called  the  Princess,  went  to  the  chief 
theatre,  where  she  was  received  with  frenzied  ap- 
plause. The  statue  of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux,  sup- 
ported by  soldiers  under  a  canopy  of  flags,  and 
crowned  with  laurels,  was  brought  to  the  front  of  the 
stage,  while  a  cortege  formed  by  a  detachment  of 
troops  of  the  line,  and  by  all  the  company  of  the 
theatre,  filed  by,  military  music  resounded.  Then  a 
cantata  was  sung. 

On  the  morrow,  at  a  grand  ball  offered  to  her  by 


THE  JOURNEY  IN   THE    WEST  235 

the  city,  Madame  was  seated  upon  a  platform  that 
was  surmounted  by  a  fine  portrait  of  her  son.  Eight 
hundred  women,  crowned  with  white  plumes,  flowers, 
and  diamonds,  cheered  her.  The  18th,  she  slept 
at  Pan,  the  native  place  of  Henry  IV.  The  moun- 
taineers, descending  from  their  heights,  banner  in 
hand,  with  their  Basque  costumes,  came  to  meet  her. 
The  next  day  she  visited  the  castle  where  was  born 
the  B Jamais,  whose  cradle,  formed  of  a  great  tor- 
toise-shell, she  saw:  it  was  shaded  by  draperies  and 
white  plumes.  The  following  day  she  visited  the 
environs.  To  descend  into  the  valley  of  Ossun,  she 
donned  the  felt  hat  and  the  red  sash  worn  by  the 
peasants  of  Bdarn.  As  she  was  looking  at  the  spring 
of  Nays,  a  mountaineer  offered  her  some  water  in  a 
rustic  dish,  and  said  naively :  "  Are  you  pleased  with 
the  Bearnais,  Madame  ?  "  —  "  Am  I  not  pleased !  " 
replied  the  Princess,  eagerly.  "  See,  I  wear  the  hat 
and  sash  of  the  country  !  " 

The  24th,  she  was  at  the  He  des  Faisans,  famous  in 
the  souvenirs  of  Louis  XIV. ;  the  25th,  at  Bayonne, 
where  she  assisted  at  a  military  fete.  In  all  her  ex- 
cursions, Madame  carried  her  pencils  with  her,  and 
almost  every  day  sketched  some  picturesque  site. 
Eight  Bearnais,  with  an  amaranth  belt  and  hats  of 
white  and  green,  served  her  as  a  guard  of  honor. 
She  passed  all  the  month  of  August  and  a  part  of  the 
month  of  September  in  the  Pyrenees.  The  moun- 
taineers never  wearied  of  admiring  the  hardihood, 
the  gaiety,  the  spirit,  shown  by  her  in  making  the 


236  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

most  difficult  ascensions.  The  9th  of  September, 
she  quitted  Bagneres-de  Luchon  to  return  to  Paris, 
passing  through  Toulouse,  Montauban,  Cahors, 
Limoges,  and  Orleans.  It  was  one  long  series  of 
ovations.  The  1st  of  October,  Madame  returned  to 
the  Tuileries.  She  had  been  accompanied  all  through 
her  journey  by  the  Mar^chale  Duchess  of  Reggio,  lady 
of  honor ;  by  the  Marchioness  of  Podenas,  lady  com- 
panion ;  and  by  Count  de  Mesnard,  first  equerry. 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  returned  enchanted.  Could 
she  suspect  the  reception  that  awaited  her,  four  years 
later,  in  the  places  where  she  had  just  been  the  object 
of  veritable  worship?  When  she  was  received  at 
Nantes  as  a  triumphant  sovereign,  could  she  believe 
that  the  time  was  approaching  when,  in  that  same 
city,  she  would  have  hardly  a  stone  on  which  to  lay 
her  head  and  where  she  would  seek  a  futile  refuge  in 
the  chimney-piece  —  mysterious  hiding-place  —  of  the 
house  of  the  Demoiselles  Duguigny?  At  Blaye 
could  she  imagine  that  the  citadel,  hung  with  white 
flags,  whose  cannon  were  fired  in  her  honor,  would  so 
soon  become  her  prison  ?  Poor  Princess  !  She  had 
taken  seriously  the  protestations  of  devotion  and 
fidelity  addressed  to  her  everywhere.  They  asked 
her  to  promise  that  if  ever  the  rights  of  her  son  were 
denied,  she  would  defend  them  on  the  soil  of  La 
Vendde,  and  she  had  said  to  herself :  "  I  swear  it." 
The  journey  of  1828  held  the  germ  of  the  expedition 
of  1832. 


XXIV 

THE   MARY   STUART   BALL 

"jVyO  society  in  Europe  was  more  agreeable  and 
-L  1  brilliant  than  that  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry. 
The  fetes  given  by  the  Princess  in  the  salons  of  the 
Pavilion  de  Marsan  at  the  Tuileries  were  marked 
by  exceptional  elegance  and  good  taste  ;  the  petit 
chdteau,  as  her  vivacious  social  staff  was  called 
at  that  time,  had  an  extraordinary  brightness  and 
animation.  At  the  carnival  of  1829  JNIadame  organ- 
ized a  costume  ball,  which,  for  its  brilliancy,  was  the 
talk  of  the  court  and  the  city.  All  the  costumes 
were  those  of  one  period, —  that  at  which  the  dowager 
queen  of  Scotland,  Marie  of  Lorraine,  widow  of 
James  V.,  came  to  France  to  visit  her  daughter,  Mary 
Stuart,  wife  of  the  King,  Francis  II.  It  was  de- 
cided that  Mary  Stuart  should  be  represented  by  the 
Duchess  of  Berry,  and  the  King,  Francis  II.,  by  the 
oldest  of  the  sons  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  the  Duke 
of  Chartres,  who  was  then  eighteen  and  one-half  years 
old,  and  who  was,  the  next  year,  to  take  the  title  of 
Duke  of  Orleans,  on  the  accession  of  his  father  to  the 
throne.  The  apartments  of  the  Children  of  France 
in  the  Pavilion  de  Marsan  were  chosen  for  the  ball, 
and  the  date  was  fixed  at  Monday,  March  2,  1829. 

237 


238  TUE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

The  King,  the  Dauphin  and  Dauphiness,  the  Duke 
and  Duchess  of  Orleans,  appeared  at  the  fete,  but  not 
in  costume.  Charles  X.  came  after  the  hour  of 
giving  out  the  general  orders.  The  Dauphin,  the 
Dauphiness,  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans  arrived  at 
8  P.M.  The  entry  of  the  four  queens,  Mary  Stuart, 
Marie  of  Lorraine,  Catharine  de'  Medici,  Jeanne 
d'Albret,  was  announced  by  the  band  of  the  body- 
guards which  preceded  them.  The  cortege  was 
magnificent,  the  costumes  of  the  princes  and  their 
ladies  resplendent.  To  increase  its  richness,  the 
Dauphiness  had  lent  not  only  her  own  jewels,  but  a 
part  of  those  of  the  crown.  The  invited  guests  not 
taking  part  in  the  cortege  occupied  places  already 
assigned  them.  They  wore  a  uniform  costume  of 
silver  gauze  and  white  satin.  This  coolness  of  tone 
produced  a  charming  effect  when  at  the  arrival  of 
the  cortege  all  rose.  In  the  ball-room  a  platform  had 
been  prepared  with  a  throne  for  Mary  Stuart.  The 
Duchess  of  Berry,  as  the  famous  queen,  wore  with 
great  grace  a  dazzling  toilet  —  crown  of  diamonds, 
high  collar,  blue  velvet  robe  with  wide  sleeves,  front 
of  white  satin  bordered  with  ermine.  The  Duke  of 
Chartres,  a  handsome  boy  and  brilliant  cavalier,  as 
King  Francis  II.,  wore  a  cap  with  white  plumes,  and  a 
dark  blue  velvet  doublet  with  ornaments  of  gold.  His 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Nemours,  fourteen  years  old, 
was  in  the  character  of  a  page  to  the  King,  with  a 
white  satin  doublet,  and  recalled  in  his  features  the 
youth  of  Henry  IV.     The  Duchess  of  Berry,  playing 


THE  MARY  STUART  BALL  239 


to  perfection  her  r81e  of  queen,  advanced  to  the 
throne.  The  Duke  of  Chartres  gave  her  his  hand 
to  ascend  the  steps.  Then  she  made  a  sign  to  be 
seated;  but  the  young  Prince  remained  standing. 
Placing  himself  behind  the  throne,  and  removing 
his  cap  with  white  plumes,  he  bowed  low  and  said : 
"  Madame,  I  know  my  place."  The  Duchess  of 
Gontaut  spoke  to  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  and  asked 
her  if  she  had  remarked  the  tact  of  her  son  the 
Prince.  "  I  remarked  it,"  replied  the  Princess,  "  and 
I  approve  of  it." 

The  ball  commenced.  There  was  present  a  great 
Scotch  lord,  the  Marquis  of  Huntley,  who  belonged 
to  a  very  illustrious  Jacobite  house.  In  his  youth  he 
had  been  what  was  then  called  a  beau  danseur^  and  had 
had  the  honor  of  opening  a  fancy  dress  ball  at  the  Cha- 
teau of  Versailles  with  the  Queen  Marie  Antoinette. 
Charles  X.  remembered  it  and  wished  that  the  Mar- 
quis, then  nearly  eighty,  should  open  the  ball  with 
little  Mademoiselle,  who  was  but  nine.  Still  a  beau 
danseur,  the  old  Englishman  had  not  forgotten  the 
pirouettes  of  Versailles;  all  the  court  admired,  and 
the  young  princes  were  greatly  amused. 

The  ball  was  a  marvellous  success.  It  was  a  revival 
of  the  beautiful  fetes  of  the  Renaissance.  The  six- 
teenth century,  so  elegant,  so  picturesque,  lived  anew. 
A  painter,  who  was  then  but  twenty-nine,  and  who 
had  already  a  great  vogue,  M.  Eugdne  Lamy,  per- 
petuated its  memory  in  a  series  of  twenty-six  water- 
colors,  which  have  been  lithographed,  and  form  a 


240  TUE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

curious  album.  (A  copy  of  this  album  is  in  the 
National  Library,  in  the  Cabinet  of  Engravings.)  It 
contains,  besides,  four  water-colors,  representing  one, 
the  ascent  of  the  stairway  of  the  Pavilion  de  Marsan 
by  the  guests ;  another,  Mary  Stuart  seated  on  the 
throne  ;  a  third,  one  of  the  dances  of  the  ball ;  a  fourth, 
the  entrance  of  the  Dowager  Queen  of  Scotland  — 
twenty-two  reproductions  of  the  principal  personages 
at  the  fete.  At  the  left  are  the  arms  of  the  historic 
personages  represented,  and  at  the  right  those  of  the 
representative.  Then  above  the  portrait  of  the  Duch- 
ess of  Berry  there  are  at  the  left  the  arms  of  Scot- 
land and  France,  and  at  the  right  those  of  France 
and  the  Two  Sicilies,  and  above  the  portrait  of  the 
Duke  of  Chartres  at  the  left  the  arms  of  France,  at 
the  right  the  ducal  blazon  of  Orleans. 

Here  are  the  names  of  the  twenty-two  persons  who 
figure  in  the  album  of  M.  Eugene  Lamy,  with  the 
personages  represented :  — 

1.  The  Duchess  of  Berry  (Mary  Stuart). 

2.  The  Duke  of  Chartres  (Francis  II.). 

3.  The  Duke  de  Nemours  (a  king's  page). 

4.  Lady  Stuart  de  Rothsay  (Marie  de  Lorraine). 
Daughter  of  Lord  Hardwicke,  she  was  the  wife  of 
Lord  Stuart  de  Rothsay,  ambassador  of  England  at 
Paris. 

5.  The  Marquis  of  Douglas,  since  Duke  of  Hamil- 
ton (the  Duke  de  Chatellerault),  a  finished  type  of 
the  great  Scotch  lord;  he  married  in  1843  the  Princess 
Mary  of  Baden,  and  under  the  reign  of  Napoleon  III. 


TnE  MABY  STUART  BALL  241 

added  to  his  titles  of  Hamilton  and  of  Brandon  in 
Scotland  and  England,  the  title  of  Duke  de  Cliatel- 
lerault,  in  France,  which  had  formerly  belonged  to 
the  Hamilton  family. 

6.  The  Marchioness  of  Podenas,  nSe  Nadaillac 
(Catharine  de'  Medici).  Lady  companion  of  the 
Duchess  of  Berry,  she  was  one  of  the  brightest 
women  of  the  court. 

7.  The  Count  de  Pastoret,  married  to  a  de  Neu- 
fermeil  (Duke  of  Ferrara). 

8.  The  Marquis  de  Vogu^  (the  Vidame  de  Char- 
tres).  Married  to  a  Mademoiselle  de  Machault 
d' Arnouville ;  his  son  was  the  diplomat  who  was  am- 
bassador under  the  presidency  of  Thiers  and  of 
Marshal  Macmahon. 

9.  Count  Ludovic  de  Rosanbo  (Duke  de  Guise). 
He  was  one  of  the  handsomest  men  of  his  time.  He 
had  married  the  daughter  of  the  Count  de  Mesnard, 
lady  companion  to  the  Duchess  of  Berry. 

10.  The  Countess  de  La  Rochejaquelein,  daughter 
of  the  Duke  de  Duras  (a  lady  of  honor  to  the  Queen). 
She  was  honorary  lady  companion  to  the  Duchess  of 
Berry. 

11.  Miss  Louise  Stuart  (a  page  to  the  Queen- 
Mother  of  Scotland). 

12.  Miss  Pole  Carew  (MarySeaton,  maid  of  honor 
to  the  same  queen). 

13.  The  Count  de  Mailly  (Ren^  de  Mailly,  officer 
of  the  guard  to  Mary  Stuart).  The  Count  was  the 
son  of  the  Marshal  de  jSIailly,  defender  of  the  Tuile- 


242  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

lies  on  August  10,  who  paid  for  his  devotion  on  the 
scaffold  of  the  Revolution.  Aide-de-camp  of  the 
Duke  of  Bordeaux,  and  lieutenant-colonel ;  he  was 
a  brilliant  officer  who  had  received  glorious  wounds 
in  the  Russian  campaign.  He  was  married  to  a 
Mademoiselle  de  Lonlay  de  Villepail. 

14.  The  Countess  d'Orgiandes,  7iee  Montblin,  one 
of  the  prettiest  women  of  the  court  (Louise  de  Cler- 
mont-Tonnerre,  Countess  of  Crussol). 

15.  The  Duchess  de  Caylus,  nee  La  Grange,  a 
great  beauty,  remarried  afterwards  to  the  Count  de 
Rochemure  (Diane  de  Poitiers). 

16.  Mademoiselle  de  B(^arn,  a  charming  3^oung  girl, 
married  afterwards  to  the  Duke  of  Vallombrosa,  and 
dying  so  young  and  so  regretted  (a  maid  of  honor  to 
Mary  Stuart). 

17.  Count  de  Mesnard,  peer  of  France,  field  mar- 
shal, first  equerry  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry,  aide-de- 
camp of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux  (Admiral  de  Coligny). 

18.  Marquis  de  Louvois,  peer  of  France,  married 
to  Mademoiselle  de  Monaco  (Count  Gondi  de  Ritz). 

19.  The  Duke  of  Richelieu,  nephew  of  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Council  of  Ministers  of  Louis  XVIII. 
(Jacques  d'Albon,  Marshal  of  Saint  Andr^). 

20.  The  Baron  de  Charette  (Fran9ois  de  Lorraine). 
He  had  married  a  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Berry  and 
of  Miss  Brown.  His  son  was  the  general  of  the 
Papal  Zouaves. 

21.  Countess  de  Pastoret,  n^e  Neufermeil  (the 
Duchess  of  Montpensier). 


THE  MARY  STUART  BALL  243 

22.  The  Countess  Auguste  de  JuignCj,  nee  Durfort 
de  Civrac  (Jeanne  d'Albret). 

Among  the  pages  were  the  Duke  de  Maill^,  who 
carried  the  banner  of  France,  and  Count  Maxence  de 
Damas. 

Eugene  Lamy,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven,  exhibited 
in  1887  a  charming  water-color,  bf  which  the  subject 
was  "  A  Ball  under  Henry  III."  He  has  the  same 
talent,  the  same  brightness,  the  same  freshness  of 
coloring  as  when,  fifty-eight  years  before,  he  painted 
the  water  colors  of  the  Mary  Stuart  ball.  The  Duke 
de  Nemours,  one  of  the  last  survivors  of  the  guests 
of  this  ball,  could  recount  its  splendors.  Even 
in  the  time  of  the  old  regime  no  more  elegant  ball 
was  ever  seen.  If  such  a  fete  had  been  given  in 
our  time,  the  detailed  accounts  of  it  would  fill  the 
papers;  but  under  the  Restoration  the  press  was 
very  sober  in  the  matter  of  "  society  news,"  and  the 
dazzling  ball  of  1829  was  hardly  mentioned.  On  the 
morrow,  the  Journal  des  DShats  said  :  — 

"Paris,  2d  of  March. 

"  The  ball  given  at  the  Pavilion  Marsan,  in  the 
apartments  of  the  Children  of  France,  was  honored 
by  the  presence  of  the  King,  INI.  the  Dauphin  and 
Madame  the  Dauphiness.  Mgr.  the  Duke  of  Orleans 
and  his  family  arrived  at  eight  o'clock. 

"  To-morrow  there  will  be  a  play  at  the  Court 
Theatre ;  the  actors  of  the  opera  will  play  La  Muette 
de  Porticiy 


244  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

Beside  the  persons  who  figure  in  the  album  of  ]\I. 
Eugene  Lamy  many  others  were  to  be  noted.  Let  us 
mention  the  Countess  Henri  de  Biron,  the  Marchion- 
ess Oudinot,  the  Countess  de  Noailles,  who  repre- 
sented Margaret  of  Savoy,  Claude  Duchess  of 
Lorraine,  the  Princess  de  Cond^,  the  Princess  of 
Ferrara ;  the  Count  A.  de  Damas,  as  Lanoue  Bras-de- 
Fer ;  Monsieur  de  San  Giacomo,  as  FranQois  de' 
Medici ;  the  Countess  de  Montault,  as  Countess  de 
Coligny;  the  Marchioness  de  Montcalm,  as  the 
Duchess  de  Bouillon ;  the  flower  of  the  English 
aristocracy,  —  Lady  Aldborough,  Lady  Rendlesham, 
Lady  Cambermere,  Lady  Vernon,  Lord  Ramlagh, 
Captain  Drummond,  Lord  Forwich,  Lord  Abayne, 
Miss  Caulfuld,  Miss  Thelusson,  Miss  Baring,  Miss 
Acton,  and,  lastly,  the  Counts  de  Coss^  de  Biron,  and 
de  Brissac,  representing  the  three  marshals  of  France 
whose  names  they  bore. 

In  donning  the  costume  of  the  unfortunate  queen 
whose  sorrows  could  only  be  compared  to  those  of 
Marie  Antoinette,  the  Duchess  of  Berry  proved  how 
free  her  mind  was  from  all  gloomy  presentiments, 
forgetting  that  the  family  of  the  Bourbons  had 
already  had  its  Charles  I.,  and  not  foreseeing  that  it 
was  soon  to  have  its  James  II.,  the  amiable  Princess 
hardly  suspected  that  in  the  course  of  next  year,  she 
would  be  an  exile  in  Scotland  in  the  castle  of  Mary- 
Stuart. 


XXV 

THE  FINE  ARTS 

FROM  1824  to  the  end  of  the  Restoration,  the 
department  of  the  Fine  Arts,  connected  with  the 
ministry  of  the  King's  household,  was  confided  to 
the  Viscount  Sosthenes  de  la  Rochefoucauld,  son 
of  the  Duke  de  Doudeauville.  He  was  then  at 
the  head  of  the  museums,  the  royal  manufactures, 
the  Conservatory  and  the  five  royal  theatres,  —  the 
Opdra,  the  Fran^ais,  the  Od^on,  the  Op^ra-Comique, 
and  the  Italiens. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  arts  and  letters  the 
reign  of  Charles  X.  was  illustrious.  The  King  en- 
couraged, protected,  pensioned  the  greater  number  of 
the  great  writers  and  artists  who  honored  France. 
Wliat  is  sometimes  called  in  literature  the  genera- 
tion of  1830  would  be  more  exactly  described  as  the 
generation  of  the  Restoration.  This  regime  can  claim 
the  glory  of  Lamartine,  as  poet.  A  body-guard  of 
Louis  XVIIL,  he  was  the  singer  of  roj-alty.  lie 
published,  in  1820,  the  first  volume  of  his  31editations 
poetiques,  in  1823  the  second,  and  in  1829  the  Harmo- 
nies. His  literary  success  opened  to  him  the  doors 
of  diplomacy.     He  was  successively  attach^  of  the 

245 


246  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

Legation  at  Florence,  Secretary  of  Embassy  at 
Naples  and  at  London,  Charg^  d' Affaires  in  Tuscany. 
When  the  Revolution  of  1830  broke  out,  he  had  just 
been  named  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Greece. 

Victor  Hugo  published  his  Odes  et  Ballades  from 
1822  to  1828.  "La  Vend<3e,"  "Les  Vierges  de 
Verdun,"  «  Quiberon,"  "  Louis  XVIL,"  "  Le  R^tab- 
lissement  de  la  Statue  de  Henri  IV.,"  "  La  Mort 
du  due  de  Berry,"  "La  Naissance  du  due  de  Bor- 
deaux," "Les  Fundrailles  de  Louis  XVHL,"  "Le 
Sacre  de  Charles  X.,"  are  true  royalist  songs.  Alex- 
andre Dumas,  jils^  in  receiving  M.  Leconte  de  Lisle 
at  the  French  Academy,  recalled  "  the  light  of  that 
little  lamp,  seen  burning  every  night  in  the  man- 
sard of  the  Rue  Dragon,  at  the  window  of  the 
boy  poet,  poor,  solitary,  indefatigable,  enamoured 
of  the  ideal,  hungry  for  glory,  of  that  little  lamp, 
the  silent  and  friendly  confidant  of  his  first  works 
and  his  fu-st  hopes  so  miraculously  realized."  Who 
knows?  without  the  support  of  the  government  of 
the  Restoration  the  light  of  that  little  lamp  might 
less  easily  have  developed  into  the  resplendent  star 
that  the  author  of  La  Dame  aux  CamSlias  indicated 
in  the  firmament. 

The  author  of  3ISditations  poStiques  and  the 
author  of  the  Odes  et  Ballades  were  sincere  in  the 
expression  of  their  political  and  religious  enthusiasm. 
These  two  lyric  apostles  of  the  throne  and  the  altar, 
these  two  bards  of  the  coronation,  obeyed  the 
double  inspiration  of  their  imagination  and  their  con- 


THE  FINE  ARTS  247 

science.  Party  spirit  should  not  bo  too  severe  for 
a  regime  that  suggested  such  admirable  verses  to 
the  two  greatest  French  poets  of  the  nineteenth 
century  —  to  Lamartine  and  to  Victor  Hugo. 

Let  us  recall  also  that  in  Victor  Hugo  it  was  not 
only  the  royalist  poet  that  Charles  X.  protected,  it 
was  also  the  chief  of  the  romantic  school ;  for  the  gov- 
ernment, despite  all  the  efforts  of  the  classicists, 
caused  Kernani  to  be  represented  at  the  Frangais, 
a  subsidized  theatre.  When  the  Academy  pressed 
its  complaint  to  the  very  throne  to  prevent  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  play,  the  King  replied  wittily  that 
he  claimed  no  right  in  the  matter  beyond  his  place 
in  the  parterre.  The  first  representation  of  Hernani 
took  place  the  25th  of  February,  1830,  and  the  au- 
thor, decorated,  pensioned,  encouraged  by  Charles  X., 
did  not  lose  the  royal  favor,  when,  on  the  9th  of 
March  following,  he  wrote  in  the  preface  of  his 
work :  "  Romanticism,  so  often  ill-defined,  is  noth- 
ing, taking  it  all  in  all  —  and  this  is  its  true  definition, 
if  only  its  militant  side  be  regarded  —  but  liberal- 
ism in  literature.  The  principle  of  literary  liberty, 
already  understood  by  the  thinking  and  reading 
world,  is  not  less  completely  adopted  by  that  im- 
mense crowd,  eager  for  the  pure  emotions  of  art,  that 
throngs  the  theatres  of  Paris  every  night.  That  lofty 
and  puissant  voice  of  the  people,  which  is  like  that 
of  God,  writes  that  poetry  henceforth  shall  have  the 
same  matter  as  politics  !     Toleration  and  liberty  1 " 

The   first  representation   of   a   work   that   was   a 


248  TUE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

great  step  forward  for  the  romantic  school,  Henri 
III.  et  jSa  Cou7\  by  Alexandre  Dumas,  had  already- 
taken  place  at  the  Fran9ais,  February  11,  1829. 
The  30th  of  March,  1830,  the  Oddon  gave  Christine 
de  Sudde^  by  the  same  author. 

In  1829,  Alfred  de  Vigny  had  represented  at  the 
Fran9ais  his  translation  in  verse  of  Othello.  It  was 
from  1824  to  1826  that  the  poet  published  his 
principal  poems.  It  was  in  1826  that  his  romance 
of  Cinq-Mars  appeared.  Victor  Hugo  published 
Les  Orientates  in  1829;  Alfred  de  Musset,  Xes  Contes 
d''Espagne  et  d'ltalie  in  1830.  It  may  be  said  then 
that  before  the  Revolution  of  1830,  romanticism  had 
reached  its  complete  expansion. 

Note,  also,  that  the  government  of  Charles  X. 
always  respected  the  independence  of  writers  and 
artists,  and  never  asked  for  eulogies  in  exchange 
for  the  pensions  and  encouragement  it  accorded 
them  with  generous  delicacy.  It  named  Michelet 
Maitre  de  Conferences  at  the  Ecole  Normale  in  1826. 
It  pensioned  Casimir  Delavigne,  so  well  known  for 
his  liberal  opinions,  and  Augustin  Thierry,  a  writer 
of  the  Opposition,  when  that  great  historian,  hav- 
ing lost  his  eyesight,  was  without  resources.  It 
ordered  of  Horace  Vernet  the  portraits  of  the  King, 
the  Duke  of  Berry,  and  the  Duke  of  Angouleme, 
as  well  as  a  picture  representing  a  "  Review  by 
Charles  X.  at  the  Champ-de-Mars,"  and  named  the 
painter  of  the  battles  of  the  Revolution  and  the 
Empire  director  of  the  School  of  Rome. 


THE  FINE  ARTS  249 


From  the  point  of  view  of  painting  as  well  as  of 
letters,  the  Restoration  was  a  grand  epoch.  Offi- 
cial encouragement  was  not  wanting  to  the  paint- 
ers. Gros  and  Gerard  received  the  title  of  Baron. 
There  may  be  seen  to-day  in  one  of  the  new  halls 
of  the  French  School  at  the  Louvre,  the  pretty  picture 
by  Heim,  which  represents  Charles  X.  distributing 
the  prizes  for  the  Exposition  of  1824,  where  Le 
Vbeu  de  Louis  XIII.  by  Ingres  had  figured,  and 
where  the  talent  of  Paul  Delaroche  had  been  dis- 
closed. In  the  Salon  Carre  of  the  Louvre,  the 
King,  in  the  uniform  of  general-in-chief  of  the 
National  Guards,  blue  coat  with  plaits  of  silver,  with 
the  cordon  of  the  Saint  Esprit,  and  in  high  boots, 
himself  hands  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  to 
the  decorated  artists,  among  whom  is  seen  Heim, 
the  author  of  the  picture. 

Ingres,  chief  of  the  Classic  School,  and  Delacroix, 
chief  of  the  Romantic  School,  shone  at  the  same 
time.  In  1827,  the  first  submitted  to  general  ad- 
miration L^AjJotheose  dHomere  and  Le  Martyre  de 
Saint  Symphorien.  The  same  year  Delacroix,  who  had 
already  given  in  1824  Le  Massacre  de  Seio,  in  1826 
La  Mort  du  Doge  3Iarino  Faliero,  exhibited  Le 
Christ  au  jardin  des  oUviers,  acquired  for  the 
Church  of  Saint  Paul ;  Justinien,  —  for  the  Council 
of  State ;  and  La  Mort  de  Sardanapale. 

When  the  Musee  Charles  X.  (the  Egj^tian  Mu- 
seum) was  opened  at  the  Louvre,  the  government 
ordered   the  frescoes    and   ceilings  from   Gros,    Gd- 


250  TUE  DUCHESS   OF  BEERY 

raid,    Ingres,    Schnetz,   Abel   de   Pujol.     M.   Jules 
Mareschal  says :  — 

" The  liglit-royal  munificence  of  Charles  X.  was  not 
marked  by  niggardliness  in  the  appreciation  of  Avorks 
of  art  any  more  than  in  the  appreciation  of  the  works 
of  science  and  letters.  But,  as  is  known,  it  is  not  by 
interest  alone  that  the  heart  of  the  artist  is  gained 
and  his  zeal  stimulated.  They  are  far  more  sensitive 
to  the  esteem  shown  them,  to  the  respect  with  which 
their  art  is  surrounded,  and  to  the  taste  manifested 
in  the  judgment  of  their  productions.  Now,  who 
more  than  Louis  XVIII.  and  Charles  X.  possessed 
the  secret  of  awakening  lively  sympathy  in  the  world 
of  artists  and  men  of  letters  ?  Who  better  than  their 
worthy  counsellor  seconded  them  in  the  impulses  of 
generous  courtesy  so  common  with  them?  Thus 
from  this  noble  and  gracious  manner  of  treating  men 
devoted  to  art  and  letters,  which  marked  the  royal 
administration  of  the  Fine  Arts  under  the  Restora- 
tion, sprang  an  emulation  and  a  good  will  which  on 
all  sides  gave  an  impetus  to  genius,  and  brought 
forth  the  new  talents." 

In  theatrical  matters,  the  Viscount  Sosthenes  de 
La  Rochefoucauld  exercised  a  salutary  influence. 
He  loved  artists,  and  wishing  to  raise  their  situation, 
moral  and  social,  he  dej^lored  the  excommunication 
that  had  been  laid  on  the  players. 

Speaking  of  the  stage,  he  wrote  in  a  report  ad 
dressed  to  Charles  X.,  June  20, 1825  :  "I  perceive  that 
I  have  forgotten  the  most  essential  side,  —  the  moral, 


THE  FINE  ARTS  251 


I  will  even  say  the  religious  side.  What  glory  it 
would  be  for  a  king  to  raise  this  considerable  class  of 
society  from  the  abject  situation  in  which  it  is  com- 
pelled to  live !  Sacrificed  to  our  pleasures,  it  has 
been  condemned  to  eternal  death,  and  a  king  believes 
his  conscience  quiet !  For  a  long  time  I  have  cher- 
ished this  thought ;  we  must  begin  by  elevating  these 
people,  as  regards  their  art,  by  reforming,  little  by  lit- 
tle, the  swarming  abuses  that  awaken  horror,  and  end 
by  treating  with  Rome  in  order  to  obtain  some  just 
concessions  that  would  have  important  results." 

In  another  report  to  the  King,  dated  October  21, 
1826,  M.  de  La  Rochefoucauld  wrote,  apropos  of  the 
obsequies  of  Talma :  — 

"  A  profound  regret  for  me  is  the  manner  of  the 
great  tragedian's  death.  Sire,  would  it  not  be  worthy 
of  the  reign,  the  breast,  the  conscience  of  Charles  X., 
to  di'aw  this  class  of  artists  from  the  cruel  position  in 
which  they  are  left  by  that  excommunication  that 
weighs  upon  them  without  distinction?  Whether 
they  conduct  themselves  well  or  ill,  the  Church  repels 
them;  this  reprobation  holds  them  perforce  in  the 
sphere  of  evil  and  disorder,  since  they  have  no  inter- 
est in  rising  above  it  Honor  them,  and  they  will 
honor  themselves.  It  is  time  to  undertake  the  reform 
of  what  I  call  a  pernicious  prejudice.  The  clergy 
itself  is  not  far  from  agreeing  on  these  ideas." 

In  liis  relations  with  authors,  artists,  directors  of 
theatres,  the  Viscount  was  courtesy  itself.  We  read 
in  one  of  his  reports  (June  17,  1825)  :  — 


252  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEERY 

"  Rossini  is  the  first  composer  of  Europe ;  I  have 
succeeded  in  attracting  him  to  the  service  of  France ; 
he  had  before  been  tempted  in  vain.  Jealous  of 
his  success,  people  have  cried  out  that  he  was  an 
idler,  that  he  would  do  nothing.  I  secured  him  by 
the  methods  and  in  the  interest  of  the  King ;  I  can 
do  with  him  as  I  will,  as  with  all  the  artists,  though 
they  are  most  difficult  people.  They  must  be  taken 
through  the  heart.  Rossini  has  just  composed  a 
really  ravishing  piece  ;  and,  touched  by  the  manner 
in  which  he  is  treated,  he  wishes  to  present  it  to  the 
King  in  token  of  his  gratitude,  and  wishes  to  receive 
nothing.  He  is  right,  but  the  King  cannot  accept 
gratis  so  fine  a  present;  I  propose  that  the  King 
grant  him  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  and  an- 
nounce it  himself  to  him  to-morrow  —  which  would 
be  an  act  full  of  grace.  All  favors  must  come  always 
from  the  King. " 

Great  tenacity  was  needed  in  the  government  of 
Charles  X.  to  get  the  chefs-d'ceuvre  of  Rossini  repre- 
sented at  the  Op^ra.  A  little  school  of  petty  and 
backward  ideas  rushed,  under  pretext  of  patriotism, 
but  really  from  jealousy,  systematically  to  drive  from 
the  stage  everything  not  French.  For  this  coterie 
Rossini  and  Meyerbeer  were  suspects,  intruders,  who 
must  be  rejDulsed  at  any  cost.  The  government  had 
the  good  sense  to  take  no  account  of  this  ridiculous 
opposition,  which  refused  to  recognize  that  art  should 
be  cosmopolitan.  Before  seeing  his  name  on  the  bills 
of  our  first  lyric  stage,  Rossini  required  no  less  tlian 


THE  FINE  ARTS  253 


nine  years  of  patience.  All  Europe  applauded  him, 
but  at  Paris  he  had  to  face  the  fire  of  pamphleteers 
rendered  furious  by  his  fame.  The  government  finally 
forced  the  Opdra  to  mount  Le  Siege  de  Corinthe.  Its 
success  was  so  striking  that  the  evening  of  the  first 
representation  (October  9,  1826),  the  public  made 
almost  a  riot  for  half  an  hour,  because  Rossini,  called 
loudly  by  an  enthusiastic  crowd,  refused  to  appear 
upon  the  stage. 

The  maestro  gave  at  the  Op^ra  Moise,  March  26, 
1826  ;  Le  Comte  Ory^  August  20,  1828 ;  Guillaume 
Tell,  August  20,  1829.  (At  this  time  the  first  repre- 
sentations of  the  most  important  works  took  place 
in  midsummer.)  The  evening  of  the  first  night  of 
Cruillaume  Tell,  the  orchestra  went,  after  the  opera, 
to  give  a  serenade  under  the  windows  of  the  com- 
poser, who  occupied  the  house  on  the  Boulevard 
Montmartre,  through  which  the  Passage  Jouffroy 
has  since  been  cut.  The  10th  of  February,  1868,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  hundredth  representation  of  the 
same  work,  there  was  a  repetition  of  the  serenade  of 
1829.  The  master  then  lived  in  the  Rue  Chauss^e 
d'Antin,  No.  2.  Under  his  windows  the  orchestra 
and  chorus  of  the  opera  commenced  the  concert 
about  half  an  hour  after  midnight,  by  the  light  of 
torches,  and  Faure  sang  the  solos. 

The  government  which  secured  the  representation 
of  Cruillaume  Tell  was  not  afraid  of  the  words  "  inde- 
pendence "  and  "  liberty."  A  year  and  a  lialf  before, 
the  20th  of  February,  1828,  there  had  been  given  at 


254  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

the  Op^ra  the  chef-d'oeuvre  of  Auber,  La  Muette  de 
Portici^  and  the  Duchess  of  Berry,  a  Neapolitan  prin- 
cess, had  applauded  the  Naples  Revolution  put  into 
music. 

The  government  of  Charles  X.  protected  Meyerbeer 
as  well  as  Rossini.  Robert  le  Diahle  was  only  played 
under  the  reign  of  Louis  Philippe,  but  the  work  had 
already  been  received  under  the  Restoration. 

During  the  reign  of  Charles  X.  the  fine  royal 
theatres  reached  the  height  of  their  splendor:  the 
Frangais  and  the  Od^ion  were  installed  in  their  pres- 
ent quarters ;  the  Op^ra  in  the  hall  of  the  Rue  La 
Peletier,  excellent  as  to  acoustics  and  proportions; 
the  Italiens  in  the  Salle  Favart  (where  they  remained 
from  1825  to  1838)  ;  the  Op^ra  Comique  in  the 
Salle  Feydeau,  until  the  month  of  April,  1829,  when 
it  inaugurated  the  Salle  Ventadour.  Talma,  Mad- 
emoiselle Duchesnoir,  Mademoiselle  Mars,  triumphed 
at  the  Fran^ais ;  Mademoiselle  Georges,  at  the 
Od^on ;  Nourrit,  Levasseur,  Madame  Damoreau,  Tag- 
lioni,  at  the  Opdra;  Sontag,  Pasta,  Malibran,  and 
Rubini  at  the  Italiens. 

The  Viscount  de  la  Rochefoucauld  wished  in  every 
way  to  raise  the  moral  level  of  the  theatre.  He  for- 
bade subscribers,  even  the  most  influential,  the  entrSe 
behind  the  scenes  of  the  OpC^ra,  because  these  per- 
sons had  not  always  preserved  there  the  desirable 
decorum.  Thence  arose  rancor  and  spite,  against 
which  he  had  to  contend  during  his  entire  adminis- 
tration.    He  wrote  to  the  King,  July   29,  1828  :  — 


TUE  FINE  ARTS 


"  A  cabal  is  formed  to  deprive  me  of  the  direction 
of  the  theatres  ;  and  by  whom  and  for  what  ?  It  is 
a  struggle,  Sire,  between  good  and  evil.  It  is 
sought  to  maintain,  at  any  cost,  the  abuses  I  have 
dared  to  reform.  They  throw  a  thousand  unjust 
obstacles  in  my  way.  Gamblers  are  mixed  up  in  it 
too ;  they  wish  to  join  this  ignoble  industry  and  the 
theatres.  It  is  a  monstrous  infamy.  The  opera 
must  be  reached  at  all  hazards,  the  coulisses  must  be 
entered ;  these  are  the  abuses  that  must  be  revived. 
How  can  it  be  done?  By  removing  the  theatres 
from  troublesome  authority.  .  .  .  Sire,  Your  Maj- 
esty shall  decide,  and  must  defend  me  with  a  firm 
will  in  the  interest,  I  venture  to  declare,  of  order ; 
you  must  defend  yourself  also  in  the  interest  of 
morals  and  of  art,  and  of  a  great  influence  of  which 
it  is  sought  to  deprive  you." 

M.  de  La  Rochefoucauld  had  the  last  word,  and 
remained  at  the  head  of  the  direction  of  the  Fine 
Arts  until  the  close  of  the  Restoration.  To  the  credit 
of  his  administration  there  must  still  be  added  the 
creation  of  the  school  of  religious  music,  directed  by 
Choron,  and  the  foundation  of  the  concerts  of  the 
conservatory  with  Habeneck,  and  a  little  against  the 
wishes  of  Cherubini.  The  chefs-d'oeuvre  of  German 
music  were  brought  out  as  well  as  those  of  Italian 
music.  The  Viscount  performed  his  task  con  amo)'e, 
as  they  say  on  the  other  side  of  the  Alps.  He  wrote 
to  Charles  X.  January  12,  1830 :  — 

"  How  many  reflections  must  have  come  to  the 


256  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERET 

King  on  regarding  the  picture  of  the  Coronation  ! 
I  divined  the  thought  that  he  did  not  complete,  and 
my  eyes  filled  with  tears.  Oh,  how  much  I  feel  and 
imagine  all  the  ennui  given  to  the  King  by  these 
barren  and  unfortunate  politics !  I  detest  them  more 
even  than  the  King  detests  them.  Ungrateful  off- 
spring of  the  times,  they  fly  away,  rarely  leaving 
even  a  memory.     How  much  I  prefer  the  arts ! " 

This  was  also  the  feeling  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry, 
who,  during  all  the  Restoration,  fled  from  surly  poli- 
tics to  live  in  the  region,  radiant  and  sacred,  of  art 
and  charity.  The  taste  of  this  Italian  lady  for  paint- 
ing and  music  was  a  veritable  passion.  She  was  for- 
ever to  be  found  in  the  museums,  the  expositions,  the 
theatres.  She  caught  the  melodies  by  heart  and  was 
always  interested  in  new  works.  An  expert,  a  dille- 
tante,  was  no  better  judge  of  pictures  and  operas  ;  the 
great  artists  who  shone  in  the  reign  of  Charles  X. 
received  from  the  amiable  Princess  the  most  precious 
encouragements.  Nor  did  she  forget  to  encourage 
the  efforts  of  beginners.  "Who,  then,"  she  said, 
"  would  buy  the  works  of  these  poor  young  people, 
if  I  did  not?" 


XXVI 

THE  THEATRE   OF   MADAIME 

ONE  of  the  most  agreeable  theatres  of  Paris,  the 
Gymnase,  owed  its  prosperity,  not  to  say  its 
existence,  to  the  high  protection  of  Madame  the 
Duchess  of  Berry.  Our  old  men  recall  its  vogue,  at 
the  time  when  they  used  to  applaud  Ferville,  Gontier, 
Numa,  L^ontine  Fay,  Jenny  Versprd,  and  when  they 
used  to  gaze  at  the  greatest  ladies  of  the  court,  the 
most  fashionable  beauties ;  and  they  remember  that 
on  its  facade,  from  the  month  of  September,  1 824,  to 
the  Revolution  of  1830,  there  was  this  inscription  in 
letters  of  gold:  "Thd^tre  de  Madame."  Placed  under 
the  patronage  of  the  Princess,  this  fortunate  theatre 
was  a  meeting-place  of  the  most  elegant  society  of 
Paris.  It  had  the  same  audiences  as  the  Opdra  and 
the  Italiens,  and  they  enjoyed  themselves  as  much  in 
the  entr'actes  as  during  the  acts.  The  spectacle  was 
in  the  hall  as  well  as  on  the  stage. 

The  origin  of  the  Gymnase  goes  back  to  1820. 
According  to  the  privilege  accorded  to  the  new  stage 
under  the  Decazes  ministry,  it  was  to  be  only  a  gym- 
nase composed  of  the  young  pupils  of  the  Conserva- 
toire, and  other  dramatic  and  lyric  schools,  and  was 

257 


258  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

authorized  only  to  present  fragments  from  the  vari- 
ous repertories.  But  from  the  beginning  it  trans- 
gressed the  limits  set  for  it.  Not  content  with  simple 
pupils,  it  engaged  actors  already  well  known.  In 
place  of  borrowing  debris  of  the  repertories  of  other 
theatres,  it  created  one  of  its  own.  At  first  the 
authorities  shut  their  eyes.  But  when  M.  de  Cor- 
biere  became  Minister  of  the  Interior,  he  tried  to 
enforce  the  regulations  and  to  compel  the  new  theatre 
to  confine  itself  to  the  limits  of  its  privilege.  The 
Gymnase  asked  for  time,  was  very  meek,  prayed, 
supplicated.  It  would  have  succumbed,  however, 
but  for  the  intervention  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry. 
Scribe  composed  for  the  apartments  of  the  Tuileries  a 
vaudeville,  called  La  Hosiere,  in  which  he  invoked 
the  Princess  as  protectress,  as  a  beneficent  fairy. 
She  turned  aside  the  fulminations  of  M.  de  Corbiere. 
The  minister  was  obstinate ;  he  wished  the  last  word; 
but  the  Princess  finally  carried  the  day.  The  day 
after  he  had  addressed  to  the  director  of  the  Gym- 
nase a  warning  letter,  he  was  amazed  to  hear  the 
Duchess  of  Berry  say :  "  I  hope.  Monsieur,  that  you 
will  not  torment  the  Gymnase  any  longer,  for,  hence- 
forth, it  will  bear  my  name." 

The  minister  yielded.  The  Gymnase  was  saved. 
It  kept  its  company,  its  repertory ;  it  gained  the  right 
to  give  new  pieces.  From  the  first  days  of  Septem- 
ber, 1824,  it  took  the  name  of  Madame  the  Duchess 
of  Berry.  After  the  death  of  Louis  XVIII.,  the  16th 
of  that  month,  the  Duchess  of  Angouleme  having  re- 


THE  THEATRE  OF  MADAME  259 

placed  her  title  of  Madame  by  that  of  Dauphiness, 
and  the  Duchess  of  Berry  taking  the  former,  the 
Gymnase  was  called  the  Theatre  de  Madame. 

The  programme  of  the  Gymnase  was  constantly 
being  renewed.  Scribe,  whose  verve  was  inexhaus- 
tible, wrote  for  this  theatre  alone  nearly  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pieces.  It  is  true  that  he  had  collaborators, 
—  Germain  Delavigne,  Dupin,  M^lesville,  Brazier, 
Varner,  Carmouche,  Bayard,  etc.  It  was  to  them 
that  he  wrote,  in  the  dedication  of  the  edition  of 
his  works :  — 

"  To  my  collaborators :  My  dear  friends,  I  have 
often  been  reproached  for  the  number  of  my  collabo- 
rators ;  for  myself,  who  am  happy  to  count  among 
them  only  friends,  I  regret,  on  the  contrary,  that 
I  have  not  more  of  them.  I  am  often  asked  why  I 
have  not  worked  alone.  To  this  I  will  reply  that  I 
have  probably  neither  the  wit  nor  the  talent  for  that ; 
but  if  I  had  had  them  I  should  still  have  preferred 
our  literary  fraternity  and  alliance.  The  few 
works  I  have  produced  alone  have  been  to  me  a 
labor ;  those  I  have  produced  with  you  have  been  a 
pleasure." 

Eugene  Scribe  was  born  December  25,  1791,  at 
Paris,  Rue  Saint^Denis,  near  the  Marchd  des  Inno- 
cents. His  father,  whom  he  lost  early,  kept  a  silk 
store,  at  the  sign  of  the  Chat  Noir,  where  he  had 
made  a  considerable  fortune.  Eugene  commenced 
his  career  as  a  dramatic  writer  in  1811.  From  that 
time  to  his  death  (February  20,  18G1),  he  composed 


260  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEHRY 

alone,  or  with  associates,  and  had  represented  on  the 
various  stages  of  Paris,  more  than  four  hundred  phiys. 
M.  Vitel  said,  at  the  reception  of  M.  Octave  Feuillet, 
at  the  French  Academy,  March  26,  1863 :  — 

"  There  was  in  Scribe  a  powerful  and  truly  supe- 
rior faculty,  that  assured  to  him  and  explained  to 
me  his  supremacy  in  the  theatre  of  his  day.  It  was 
a  gift  of  dramatic  invention  that  perhaps  no  one 
before  him  has  possessed ;  the  gift  of  discovering  at 
every  step,  almost  apropos  of  nothing,  theatrical 
combinations  of  a  novel  and  striking  effect;  and  of 
discovering  them,  not  in  the  germ  only,  or  barely 
sketched,  but  in  relief,  in  action,  and  already  on  the 
stage.  In  the  time  needed  by  his  confreres  to  pre- 
pare a  plot,  he  would  finish  four,  and  he  never 
secured  this  prodigious  fecundity  at  the  expense  of 
originality.  It  is  in  no  commonplace  mould  that  his 
creations  are  cast.  There  is  not  one  of  his  works 
that  has  not  at  least  its  grain  of  novelty." 

On  his  part,  M.  Octave  Feuillet,  a  master  in  things 
theatrical,  said  in  his  reception  discourse :  — 

"  One  of  the  most  difficult  arts  in  the  domain  of 
literary  invention,  is  that  of  charming  the  imagination 
without  unsettling  it,  of  touching  the  heart  without 
troubling  it,  of  amusing  men  without  corrupting 
them ;  this  was  the  supreme  art  of  Scribe." 

They  are  very  pretty,  very  alert,  very  French,  these 
plays  of  the  Th(iatre  de  Madame.  They  have  aged 
less  than  many  pretentious  works  that  have  aimed  at 
immortality.     There  is  hardly  one  of  them  without 


THE  THEATRE  OF  MADAME  261 

its  ingenious  idea,  something  truly  scenic.  We  often 
see  amateurs  seeking  pieces  to  play  in  the  salons; 
let  them  di-aw  from  this  repertory ;  they  will  have  but 
an  embarrassment  of  choice  among  plays  always 
amusing  and  always  in  good  form. 

Scribe  said,  in  his  reception  discourse  at  the  French 
Academy  (January  28,  1836)  :  — 

"  It  happens,  by  a  curious  fatality,  that  the  stage 
and  society  are  almost  always  in  direct  contradic- 
tion. Take  the  period  of  the  Regency.  If  comedy 
were  the  constant  expression  of  society,  the  comedy 
of  that  time  must  have  offered  us  strong  license  or 
joyous  Saturnalia.  Nothing  of  the  sort;  it  is  cold, 
correct,  pretentious,  but  decent.  In  the  Revolution, 
during  its  most  horrible  periods,  when  tragedy,  as 
was  said,  ran  the  streets,  what  were  the  theatres 
offering  you  ?  Scenes  of  humanity,  of  beneficence, 
of  sentimentality ;  in  January,  1793,  during  the  trial 
of  Louis  XVI.,  La  Belle  Fermiere^  a  rural  and  senti- 
mental play ;  under  the  Empire,  the  reign  of  glory  and 
conquest,  the  drama  was  neither  warlike  nor  exult- 
ant ;  under  the  Restoration,  a  pacific  government,  the 
stage  was  invaded  by  lancers,  warriors,  and  military 
costumes;  Thalia  wore  epaulettes.  The  theatre  is 
rarely  the  expression  of  society ;  it  is  often  the  oppo- 
site." 

Scribe  was  an  exception  to  the  rule  thus  laid  down 
by  him.  The  Theatre  de  Madame  is  an  exact  paint- 
ing of  the  manners,  the  ideas,  the  language  of  the 
Parisian  bourgeoisie  in  the  reign  of  Charles  X.    Ville- 


262  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEERY 

main  was  right  in  saying  to  Scribe,  on  receiving  him 
at  the  Academy :  — 

"  The  secret  of  your  success  with  the  theatre  lies 
in  having  happily  seized  the  spirit  of  your  century 
and  in  makinfj  the  sort  of  comedies  to  which  it  is  best 
adapted  and  which  most  resemble  it." 

The  world  that  the  amiable  and  ingenious  author 
excels  in  representing,  is  that  of  finance  and  the 
middle  classes ;  it  is  the  society  of  the  Chauss^e 
d'Antin,  rather  than  that  of  the  Faubourg  Saint  Ger- 
main. His  Gymnase  repertory  is  of  the  Left  Centre, 
the  juste  milieu,  nearer  the  National  Guard  than  the 
royal  guard.  The  prot^gd  of  Madame  the  Duchess  of 
Berry  never  flattered  the  ultras.  There  is  not  in  his 
plays  a  single  line  that  is  a  concession  to  their  arro- 
gance or  their  rancor;  not  a  single  phrase,  not  one 
word,  that  shows  the  least  trace  of  the  prejudices  of 
the  old  regime ;  not  one  idea  that  could  offend  the 
most  susceptible  liberal.  It  is  animated  by  the  spirit 
of  conciliation  and  pacification.  "We  insist  on  this 
point  because  we  see  in  it  a  proof  that  a  Princess 
who  took  under  her  protection  a  kind  of  literature  so 
essentially  modern  and  bourgeois,  never  thought  of 
reviving  a  past  destroyed  forever. 

The  28th  of  June,  1828,  when  the  struggles  of  the 
liberals  and  the  ultras  were  so  heated,  Eugene  Scribe, 
in  connection  with  M.  de  Rougemont,  wrote  for  the 
Gymnase  a  piece  entitled  Avant,  Pendant,  Apres,  his- 
torical sketches  in  three  parts.  Avant  was  a  critique 
of  the  view  of  the  old  rdgime ;    Pendant,  a  critique 


THE  THEATRE  OF  MADAME  263 

of  those  of  the  Revolution ;  Apres  an  appeal  for  har- 
mony under  the  Charter  and  liberty.  This  piece 
seems  to  us  very  curious,  as  a  true  programme,  a 
faithful  reflection  of  the  ideas  of  the  haute  bourgeoisie 
of  Paris  a  little  before  1830. 

The  principal  personage  is  a  great  liberal  noble,  the 
General  Count  de  Surgy,  who  has  served  gloriously 
in  the  armies  of  the  Republic  and  of  the  Empire,  and 
at  the  close  is  named  as  deputy  to  represent  an  intelli- 
gent and  wise  royalism.  By  the  side  of  the  General 
is  a  certain  Viscount,  who  has  lived  in  a  savage  island 
since  the  wreck  of  La  Perouse,  and  who,  more  royalist 
than  the  King,  finds  himself  among  strangers  and 
is  utterly  dumfounded  on  beholding  the  new  France. 
Let  us  cite  some  fragments  of  this  piece  in  which 
there  is  more  acuteness,  more  observation,  more 
truth,  than  in  many  of  the  studies  called  psychologic 
or  historic :  — 

"  The  General.  Ah,  do  not  confuse  Liberty  with 
the  excesses  committed  in  her  name.  Liberty,  as  we 
understand  her,  is  the  friend  of  order  and  duty ;  she 
protects  all  rights.  She  wishes  laws,  institutions, 
not  scaffolds. 

The  Maequis.  Alas!  of  what  service  to  you 
are  your  courage  and  your  wise  opinions  ?  You  are 
denounced,  reduced  as  I  am,  to  hiding,  after  shedding 
your  blood  for  them. 

The  General.  Not  for  them  but  for  France. 
The  honor  of  our  country  took  refuge  in  the  armies, 
and  I  followed  it  there.     I  have  done  a  little  good; 


264  •  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

I  have  hindered  much  evil,  and  if  the  choice  were 
still  mine,  I  should  follow  the  same  route. 

A  Voice  (in  the  street).  A  great  conspiracy  dis- 
covered by  the  Committee  of  Public  Safety. 

The  General.    Still  new  victims. 

The  Marquis.  They  who  did  not  respect  the 
virtues  of  Malesherbes,  the  talents  of  Lavoisier,  the 
youth  of  Barnave,  will  they  recoil  from  one  crime 
more? 

The  General.  Decent  people  will  get  weary  of 
having  courage  only  to  die.  France  will  reawaken, 
stronger  and  more  united,  for  misfortune  draws  to 
each  other  all  ranks,  all  parties ;  and  already  you  see 
that  we,  formerly  so  divided,  are  understanding  each 
other  better  at  last,  and  love  each  other  more  than 
ever. 

The  Marquis  (throtving  himself  into  the  (xeneraVs 
arms').     Ah,  you  speak  truly." 

This  scene  passes  in  the  midst  of  the  Terror.  The 
conclusion,  the  moral  of  the  piece,  is  as  follows :  — 

"  The  General.  My  friends,  my  fellow-citizens, 
we  who,  after  so  many  storms  have  finally  reached 
port,  and  who,  under  the  shelter  of  the  throne  and 
the  laws,  taste  that  wise  and  moderate  hberty  which 
has  been  the  object  of  our  desires  for  forty  years ;  let 
us  guard  it  well,  it  has  cost  us  dear.  Always  united, 
let  us  no  longer  think  of  the  evil  done,  let  us  see  only 
the  good  that  is,  let  us  put  away  sad  memories,  and 
let  us  all  say,  in  the  new  France, '  Union  and  forgive- 


THE   THEATRE  OF  MADAME  265 

Among  the  spectators  more  than  one  could  recog- 
nize himself  in  the  personages  of  the  piece.  But  the 
allusions  were  so  nicely  made  that  no  one  could  be 
offended.  Liberals  and  ultras  could,  on  the  contrary, 
profit  by  the  excellent  counsels  given  them  in  the 
little  play  of  the  Theatre  de  Madame. 

Let  us  add,  moreover,  that  Scribe  never  wished  to 
be  anything  but  a  man  of  letters.  There  could  be 
applied  to  him  the  words  said  by  him  of  his  confrere, 
friend,  and  nephew,  Bayard :  — 

"A  stranger  to  all  parties,  he  speculated  on  no 
revolution ;  he  flattered  no  one  in  power,  not  even 
those  he  loved.  He  solicited  no  honors,  no  places, 
no  pension.  He  asked  nothing  of  any  one  but  him- 
self. He  owed  to  his  talent  and  his  labor  his  honor 
and  his  independence." 

The  device  chosen  by  Scribe  is  a  pen,  above  which 
is  the  motto :  Inch  fortuna  et  lihertas.  The  Duchess 
of  Berry  knew  how  to  understand  and  appreciate  this 
man  of  wit  and  good  sense.  For  his  part.  Scribe 
avowed  for  the  Princess  a  sentiment  of  gratitude 
that  he  never  falsified.  When  the  days  of  ill  fortune 
came  for  her,  he  joui-neyed  to  bear  his  homage  to  her 
upon  a  foreign  soil. 


XXVII 


DIEPPE 


DIEPPE  has  not  forgotten  the  benefits  received 
from  the  Duchess  of  Berry.  It  was  this  amia- 
ble Princess  that  made  fashionable  the  pretty  Nor- 
mandy city  and  made  it  the  most  elegant  bathing 
resort  of  Europe.  She  made  five  visits  there,  of 
several  weeks  each,  in  1824,  1825,  1826,  1827,  and 
1829. 

The  Duchess  came  for  the  first  time  to  Dieppe  some 
time  before  the  death  of  Louis  XVIII.  She  arrived 
the  29th  of  July,  and  left  the  23d  of  August.  She 
conceived  immediately  a  passion  for  the  picturesque 
town,  as  famous  for  its  fine  beach  as  for  its  smiling 
environs.  The  enthusiasm  manifested  for  her  by  the 
inhabitants  touched  her.  She  said  to  the  mayor: 
"  Henri  IV.  was  right  when  he  called  the  Dieppois  his 
good  friends.  I  shall  imitate  my  ancestor  in  his  love 
for  them." 

The  next  year  —  the  year  of  the  coronation  — 
Madame  returned  to  her  favorite  city.  She  arrived 
there  the  2d  of  August,  1825.  More  than  twenty 
thousand  persons  were  awaiting  her  at  the  boundary 
of  the  district,  and  her  entry  was  triumphal.  The 
266 


DIEPPE  267 

6th  of  August,  the  actors  of  the  Gyranase,  come  from 
Paris,  gave  a  theatrical  representation  in  her  honor. 

Madame  made  many  excursions  by  sea.  There  was 
on  her  boat  a  tent  of  crimson  silk,  above  which 
floated  the  white  flag.  The  little  flotilla  of  the  royal 
navy  had  manoeuvres  in  her  honor,  and  saluted  her 
with  salvos  of  artillery.  The  10th  of  September,  the 
Princess  made  an  excursion  to  Bacqueville,  where 
there  awaited  her  a  numerous  cortege  of  Cauchois 
women,  all  on  horseback,  in  the  costume  of  the  coun- 
try. The  12th,  she  breakfasted  in  the  ship  Le  Hodeur, 
and  a  recently  constructed  merchant  vessel  was 
launched  in  her  presence.  She  departed  the  14th, 
promising  to  return  the  following  year. 

Accordingly,  Madame  left  Paris  for  Dieppe  the 
7th  of  August,  1826.  The  morrow  of  her  arrival, 
she  assisted  at  the  inauguration  of  a  new  playhouse 
that  had  been  built  within  six  months.  The  mayor 
presented  the  Princess  with  some  kej's,  artistically 
worked — the  keys  to  her  loge  and  to  her  salon. 
The  prologue  of  the  opening  piece,  entitled  La  Poste 
Royale^  was  filled  with  delicate  allusions  and  compli- 
ments. The  17th  of  August,  there  was  a  performance 
offered  by  Madame  to  the  sailors  and  sokUers  of  the 
garrison.  From  his  place  in  the  parterre  a  subordi- 
nate of  the  64th  regiment  of  the  line  sang,  in  honor 
of  the  Princess,  some  couplets  expressing  the  senti- 
ments of  his  comrades. 

The  19th,  there  was  a  visit  to  the  ruins  of  the 
Chateau  of  Arques,  immortalized  by  the  victory  of 


268  TUE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

Heniy  IV.  An  agreeable  surprise  for  Madame 
was  a  comedy  for  the  occasion  improvised  by  the 
actors  of  the  Vaudeville.  When  the  Princess  pre- 
sents herself  before  the  Chateau,  a  little  peasant 
girl  at  first  refuses  her  admittance.  She  has  re- 
ceived orders,  she  says,  from  her  father  and  mother 
to  open  to  no  one,  no  matter  whom.  But  the  air 
Vive  Henri  IV.  is  heard,  and  straightway  both  doors 
are  opened  wide  to  the  Princess.  An  old  concierge 
and  his  wife  sing  piquant  verses  about  their  first 
refusal  to  open  to  her.  From  here  Madame  is 
guided  by  the  little  peasant  girl  to  the  entrance  of 
an  ancient  garden,  where  she  perceives  the  whole 
troupe  in  the  costume  of  gardeners  and  garden  girls. 
She  is  offered  bouquets  and  escorted  to  a  dairy  at 
the  extremity  of  the  ruins.  The  band  of  the  guard 
plays  for  her  her  favorite  air,  Charmante  Gahrielle. 
A  young  milk-maid  —  tlie  pretty  actress  Jenny  Colon 
—  offers  her  a  cup  of  milk  and  sings  couplets  that 
please  her  greatly.  Then  comes  the  husband  of  the 
dairy-maid  and  recounts  to  the  grand-daughter  of 
Henry  IV.  the  victory  won  by  her  ancestor  over  the 
Duke  of  Mayenne.  A  little  later,  Madame  is  con- 
ducted to  the  foot  of  an  ancient  tower,  whence 
there  is  a  view  of  immense  extent.  Here  she  is 
arrested  by  the  songs  of  an  ancient  minstrel,  whose 
voice  is  accompanied  by  mysterious  music  hidden 
in  the  hollows  of  the  ruins. 

Going  from  surprise  to  surprise,  the  Princess  trav- 
erses a  long  arch  of  verdure  where  she  reads  on  es- 


DIEPPE  2G9 

cutcheons  the  dates  dear  to  her  heart.  At  the  end 
of  this  long  avenue,  she  again  finds  the  entire  troupe 
of  the  Vaudeville,  who  re-escort  her  to  the  gates  of 
Chateau,  singing  a  general  choras  of  farewell,  amid 
cries  of  "  Long  live  the  King  !  Long  live  Madame  !  " 
the  effect  of  which  is  doubled  by  repeated  salutes  of 
artillery. 

Some  days  later,  the  7th  of  September,  the  Duch- 
ess of  Berry  learned,  during  the  day,  that  a  fright- 
ful tempest  threatened  to  engulf  a  great  number  of 
fishing-boats  which  were  coming  toward  port.  In- 
stantly she  countermanded  a  ball  that  she  was  to 
give  that  evening.  She  proceeded  in  all  haste  to 
the  point  whence  aid  could  be  given  to  these  unfortu- 
nates. Clinging  to  a  little  post  on  the  jetty,  which 
the  waves  covered  from  all  sides,  she  directed  and 
encouraged  the  rescue.  The  Dieppe  correspondence 
of  the  Moniteur  said :  — 

"  What  has  been  seen  at  Dieppe  alone,  is  a  young 
Princess,  braving  all  the  dangers  of  a  wild  sea,  re- 
maining on  the  end  of  the  jetty  to  direct  the  succor 
of  the  fishing-boats  that  were  seeking  refuge  in  the 
harbor.  She  seemed  placed  there  by  the  Deity  as  a 
protecting  angel,  and  the  sailors  who  saw  her  took 
courage  again." 

She  withdrew  from  the  dangerous  place,  which 
she  called  her  post,  only  when  all  the  barks  had  en- 
tered port.  One  man  only  had  perished.  Before 
even  changing  her  clothing  the  Princess  sent  relief 
to  his  widow. 


270  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERBY 

By  her  kindness,  her  charity,  her  grace,  Madame 
won  all  hearts.  Her  protection  revived  at  Dieppe 
the  commerce  in  ivory  and  laces.  She  gave  two 
brevets,  one  in  her  own  name,  the  other  in  that  of 
Mademoiselle,  to  the  best  two  manufacturers  in  the 
city,  and  made  considerable  purchases.  She  founded 
at  her  expense,  under  the  direction  of  the  Sisters  of 
Providence,  a  manufactory  of  laces  where  a  large 
number  of  young  girls  obtained  at  the  same  time  the 
means  of  living  and  the  benefits  of  a  Christian  edu- 
cation. Between  the  Princess  and  her  good  city  of 
Dieppe  there  was  a  constant  exchange  of  delicate 
attentions  and  proofs  of  sympathy.  When  she  was 
spoken  to  of  preparations  for  departure,  "Already  ?  " 
she  said  sadly.  She  left  the  19th  of  September,  1826, 
and  returned  the  following  year. 

The  6th  of  August,  1827,  Madame  made  an  entry 
to  Dieppe  by  the  hamlet  of  Janval.  A  great  crowd 
went  to  visit  her,  and  greeted  her  with  enthusiastic 
cheers.  The  13th  of  August,  the  city  offered  her  a 
great  ball,  at  which  more  than  twelve  hundred  per- 
sons attended.  On  the  16th,  the  portrait  of  the  Prin- 
cess was  unveiled  at  the  H6tel  de  Ville.  At  the 
moment  that  the  veil  was  raised,  the  band  of  the 
fifth  regiment  of  the  royal  guard  played  the  air  of 
Vive  Henri  IV.  amid  long  applause.  The  mayor  of 
Dieppe,  M.  Cavalier,  pronounced  a  discourse  in  which 
he  expressed  the  gratitude  of  the  inhabitants,  and 
promised  that  the  cherished  image  should  be  sur- 
rounded, age  after  age,  by  the  veneration  of  a  city 


DIEPPE  271 

whose  history  was  one  of  constant  devotion  to  its 
Kings.  In  the  evening  Madame  gave  a  soirde  at 
which  the  hereditary  Princess  of  Hesse-Darmstadt 
was  present.  Rossini  was  at  the  piano  and  sang 
with  his  wife  and  with  Balfe ;  Nadermann  played  the 
harp. 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  made  numerous  excursions 
by  sea,  even  in  the  worst  weather.  One  day,  at 
least,  she  was  in  some  danger.  The  sailors  admired 
her  good  spirits  and  her  courage.  "  Oh,"  they  said, 
"  she  is  indeed  a  worthy  descendant  of  Henry  IV." 

The  4th  of  September,  1827,  Mademoiselle,  with 
her  governess,  the  Duchess  of  Gontaut,  came  to  join 
her  mother  at  Dieppe.  The  little  Princess  was  to  be 
eight  years  old  the  21st  of  the  month.  A  formal  re- 
ception was  given  her.  Her  arrival  was  announced 
by  the  noise  of  cannon  and  the  sound  of  bells.  The 
Baron  de  Viel-Castel,  sub-prefect  of  the  city,  made  a 
complimentary  address  to  her.  She  responded  in  the 
most  gracious  manner,  "  I  know  how  much  you  love 
my  mother,  and  I  loved  you  in  advance." 

Madame,  who  had  gone  to  meet  her  daughter  at 
Osmonville,  three  leagues  from  Dieppe,  took  her  in 
her  carriage.  The  horses  proceeded  at  a  walk,  and 
the  people  never  wearied  of  admiring  the  gentle  little 
Princess.  On  the  morrow,  Madame  received  the 
homage  of  the  functionaries.  The  mayor  said  to  her : 
"  Your  Royal  Highness  is  in  a  country  filled  with 
your  ancestors,  in  a  city  honored  by  Henry  IV.  with 
special  benevolence,  which  Louis  XIV.  rewarded  for 


272  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

its  fidelity  by  calling  it  '  his  good  city,'  which  your 
august  aunt,  Madame  the  Dauphiness,  deigned  to 
choose  for  her  return  to  France,  and  which  received 
her,  triumphant  and  adored." 

An  elegant  breakfast  service  in  ivory,  with  her 
arms,  was  presented  to  IMademoiselle  by  a  group  of 
very  young  people.  She  next  received  a  deputation 
of  the  fisherwomen  of  Du  Polet,  the  faubourg  of 
Dieppe.  They  came  in  their  picturesque  costumes,  — 
a  skirt  falling  a  little  below  the  knee,  men's  buckled 
shoes,  a  striped  apron  of  white  and  red,  an  enormous 
head-dress,  with  broad  tabs,  and  great  ear-rings.  They 
sang  couplets  expressing  a  lively  attachment  to  the 
family  of  the  Bourbons.  In  their  enthusiasm  they 
asked  and  obtained  leave  to  kiss  the  little  Princess. 

On  the  6th  of  September,  there  was  a  fete  at  tlie 
ruins  of  the  Castle  of  Arques.  From  seven  in  the 
morning  the  crowd  gathered  on  the  hillside  of  Saint 
Etienne,  at  the  edge  of  the  coast  between  Martin- 
Eglise  and  the  village  of  Arques.  It  is  a  magnificent 
site,  which,  towering  above  the  valley,  is  surrounded 
on  all  sides  by  grim  hill-slopes,  while  in  the  distance 
is  the  sea,  along  the  edge  of  which  extends  the  city 
of  Dieppe,  like  a  majestic  dike.  A  mimic  battle  took 
place  in  the  presence  of  Madame  and  her  daughter, 
on  the  ground  where  Henry  IV.  had  delivered  the  fa- 
mous battle  of  September  21, 1589.  Numerous  strokes 
on  the  flags  of  different  colors  indicated  the  lines  of 
the  B^arnais,  and  circumscribed  the  enceinte  occupied 
by  his  troops.    An  obelisk  had  been  placed  at  the  high- 


DIEPPE  273 

est  point  of  this  sort  of  entrenched  camp ;  in  the 
centre  was  a  post  tent,  under  which  a  rich  breakfast 
had  been  prepared  for  the  two  princesses.  During 
the  repast,  both  put  their  names  to  a  subscription  to 
erect  a  monument  commemorating  the  victory  of 
their  ancestor. 

The  14th  of  September,  the  city  offered  a  ball  to 
Madame  and  Mademoiselle.  The  little  Princess 
danced  two  quadrilles.  The  15th,  she  offered  lunch 
to  a  great  number  of  children  of  her  own  age,  and 
afterward  went  with  them  to  the  theatre.  The  18th, 
at  the  close  of  the  play,  some  scenes  were  represented 
before  ISIadame,  mingled  with  verses,  expressing  the 
regret  of  the  city  at  the  near  departure  of  Madame. 
The  next  day,  the  Princess  and  her  daughter  left 
Dieppe,  between  double  lines  of  troops  and  National 
Guards. 

The  journey  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry  in  the  West, 
in  1828,  prevented  her  from  going  that  year  to 
Dieppe.  She  came  in  1829,  but  it  was  for  the  last 
time.  She  arrived  the  6th  of  August,  wdth  her 
daughter.  The  next  day  she  danced  at  a  subscrip- 
tion ball  given  by  the  city  and  by  the  visitors  to  the 
baths;  the  8th  she  received  a  visit  from  the  Dau- 
phiness,  who  passed  three  days  with  her. 

For  every  fete  there  was  a  corresponding  good 
work.  The  Princess  said :  "  I  wish  that  while  I  am 
enjoying  myself  the  poor  may  also  have  their  share." 
The  18th  of  August,  she  visited  the  bazaar  opened  for 
the  benefit  of  the  indigent.     Mademoiselle  had  con- 


274  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

ceived  the  idea  of  writing  her  name  on  little  objects 
of  painted  wood,  which  were  bid  for  at  their  weight 
in  gold.  The  24th,  Madame  gave  a  concert,  at  which 
the  Sontag  sisters  were  heard  and  some  stanzas  of 
the  Viscount  of  Castel-bajac  were  recited.  The  25th, 
the  city  offered  a  ball  to  Mademoiselle,  at  which  the 
grace  of  the  little  Princess,  her  tact,  and  her  preco- 
cious amiability,  excited  surprise.  The  9th  of  Sep- 
tember, the  inauguration  of  the  monument  commem- 
orative of  the  victory  of  Henry  IV.  took  place  in  the 
presence  of  Madame  and  her  daughter.  It  was  a 
column  indicating  the  point  where  the  army  of 
Mayenne  debouched  to  surround  the  King's  troops, 
when,  the  fog  rising,  the  artillery  of  the  castle  could 
be  brought  into  play,  and  threw  into  disorder  the 
ranks  of  the  Leaguers.  The  inauguration  interested 
the  Duchess  much.  The  troops  of  the  line  and  the 
National  Guard  had  established  bivouacs  where  the 
princesses  read  with  joy  such  inscriptions  as  these: 
"  The  young  Henry  will  find  again  the  arquebusiers 
of  Henry  IV. — The  flag  of  the  12th  will  always 
rally  to  the  white  plume  !  —  Two  Henrys  —  one  love, 
one  devotion." 

A  table  of  forty  covers  had  been  arranged  under  a 
pavilion  draped  with  flags.  After  the  repast  Madame 
and  Mademoiselle  danced  several  quadrilles  on  the 
grass.  The  fete  was  charming.  An  expression  of 
joy  was  depicted  on  every  face. 

At  the  time  of  her  various  sojourns  at  Dieppe,  the 
Duchess  of  Berry  went  to  visit  the  Orleans  family  at 


DIEPPE  275 

the  Chateau  d'Eu.  She  manifested  toward  her  aunt, 
Marie-Am^lie,  the  liveliest  affection,  and  had  no 
courtier  more  amiable  and  assiduous  than  the  young 
Duke  of  Chartres,  whom,  it  is  said,  she  wished  to 
have  as  husband  for  Mademoiselle.  The  9th  of  Sep- 
tember, she  had  been  at  the  baptismal  font,  with  the 
Duke  of  Angouleme,  the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  the 
latest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  She  was  very 
fond  of  her  god-son,  and  nothing  was  more  agreeable 
to  her  than  a  reunion  at  the  Chateau  d'Eu,  where 
Mademoiselle  was  always  happy,  playing  with  her 
young  cousins. 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  and  her  daughter  returned 
to  Saint  Cloud  the  16th  of  September,  1829.  On  leav- 
ing. Mademoiselle  said  to  the  Dieppois :  "  My  friends, 
I  will  come  back  next  year,  and  I  will  bring  you  my 
brother."     Neither  she  nor  her  mother  was  to  return. 


XXVIII 

THE  PRINCE  DE  POLIGNAC 

AT  the  very  moment  that  the  Duchess  of  Berry, 
happy  and  smiling,  was  tranquilly  taking  the 
sea-baths  at  Dieppe,  an  event  occurred  at  Paris  that 
was  the  signal  for  catastrophes.  The  9th  of  August, 
1829,  the  Moniteur  published  the  decree  constituting 
the  cabinet,  in  which  were  included  the  Prince  de 
Polignac  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Aifairs ;  Count  de 
La  Bourdonnaye  as  Minister  of  the  Interior ;  and  as 
Minister  of  War,  the  General  Count  de  Bourmont. 
The  next  day  the  Debats  said :  — 

"  So  here  is  once  more  broken  the  bond  of  love  and 
confidence  that  was  uniting  the  people  to  the  Mon- 
arch. Here  once  again  are  the  court  with  its  old 
rancors,  the  Emigration  with  its  prejudices,  the  priest- 
hood with  its  hatred  of  liberty,  coming  to  throw 
themselves  between  France  and  her  King.  What  she 
has  conquered  by  forty  years  of  travail  and  misfor- 
tune is  taken  from  her  ;  what  she  repels  with  all  the 
force  of  her  will,  all  the  energy  of  her  deepest  desires, 
is  violently  imposed  upon  her.  Ill-fated  France ! 
Ill-fated  King!" 

The  15th  of  August  the  Debuts  reached  a  parox- 
ysm of  fury :  — 
273 


THE  PRINCE  DE  POLIGNAC  Til 

"  If  from  all  the  battle-fields  of  Europe  where  our 
Grand  Army  has  left  its  members,  if  from  Belgium, 
where  it  left  the  last  fragments  of  its  body,  and  from 
the  place  where  Marshal  Ney  fell  shot,  there  arise 
cries  of  anger  that  resound  in  our  hearts,  if  the  col- 
umn of  the  Grand  Army  seems  to  tremble  through  all 
its  bronze  battalions,  whose  is  the  fault  ?  No,  no ; 
nothing  is  lacking  in  this  ministry  of  the  counter- 
Revolution.  Waterloo  is  represented,  ...  M.  de 
Polignac  represents  in  it  the  ideas  of  the  first  Emigra- 
tion, the  ideas  of  Coblenz  ;  jNI.  de  La  Bourdonnaye  the 
faction  of  1815  with  its  murderous  friendships,  its 
law  of  proscription,  and  its  clientele  of  southern  mas- 
sacres. Coblenz,  Waterloo,  1815,  these  are  the  three 
personages  of  the  ministry.  Turn  it  how  you  will, 
every  side  dismays.  Every  side  angers.  It  has  no 
aspect  that  is  not  sinister,  no  face  that  is  not  menac- 
ing. Take  our  hatreds  of  thirty  years  ago,  our  sor- 
rows and  our  fears  of  fifteen  years  ago,  all  are 
there,  all  have  joined  to  insult  and  irritate  France. 
Squeeze,  wring  tliis  ministry,  it  drips  only  humilia- 
tions, misfortunes,  dangers." 

The  Abbd  Vedrenne,  historian  of  Charles  X., 
wrote :  — 

"  How  is  the  language  of  the  writers  of  the  Dehats^ 
who  called  themselves  royalists,  to  be  understood? 
Was  not  Charles  X.  at  Coblenz  ?  Did  not  Chateau- 
briand emigrate  with  the  King  and  the  princes? 
Did  he  not  follow  Louis  XVIII.  to  Ghent?  Was  he 
not  in  his  council  at  the  very  hour  of  the  battle  of 


278  TUE  DUCHESS   OF  BERIiY 

Waterloo  ?  They  might  as  well  have  stigmatized  the 
white  flag  and  demanded  the  proscription  of  the 
King's  dynasty.  But  such  was  their  blindness  that 
they  feared  nothing  for  it.  '  The  throne  runs  no  risk,' 
said  Chateaubriand,  '  let  us  tremble  for  liberty  only.' 
Yet  the  nomination  of  the  Polignac  ministry  was  an 
error.  It  appeared  to  be  a  provocation,  a  sort  of  de- 
fiance. Charles  X.  doubtless  only  wished  to  defend 
himself,  but  in  choosing  such  ministers  at  such  an 
hour,  he  appeared  to  be  willing  to  attack." 

From  the  debut  of  the  new  cabinet,  the  Opposition, 
to  use  a  recent  expression,  showed  itself  irreconcil- 
able. It  raised  a  long  cry  of  anger,  and  declared  war 
to  the  death  on  Prince  Polignac. 

"  It  is  in  vain,"  said  the  Debats,  "  that  the  minis- 
ters demand  of  Time  to  efface  with  a  sweep  of  his 
wing  their  days,  their  actions,  their  thoughts,  of  yes- 
terday ;  these  live  for  them,  as  for  us.  The  shadow 
of  their  past  goes  before  them  and  traces  their  route. 
They  cannot  turn  aside  ;  they  must  march ;  they  must 
advance.  — -  But  I  wish  to  turn  back.  —  You  cannot. 
—  But  I  shall  support  liberty,  the  Charter,  the  Opposi- 
tion. —  You  cannot.  March,  then,  march,  under  the 
spur  of  necessity,  to  the  abyss  of  Coups  d'Etat! 
March !  Your  life  has  judged  and  condemned  you. 
Your  destiny  is  accomplished." 

The  man  who  excited  hatreds  so  violent  was  Jules 
de  Polignac.  He  was  born  at  Versailles,  May  14, 
1780.  As  the  German  historian,  Gervinus,  has  said: 
"  His  past  weighed  upon  him  like  a  lash  of  political 


THE  PRINCE  BE  POLIGNAC  ii7d 

interdict.  He  was  the  son  of  the  Duchess  of  Poli- 
gnac,  who  had  been  the  object  of  so  many  calumnies, 
and  who  had  never  been  pardoned  for  the  intimate 
friendship  with  which  she  was  honored  by  the  unfor- 
tunate queen,  Marie  Antoinette,  a  friendship  that 
had  evoked  against  her,  first  all  the  jealousies  of  the 
envious  courtiers,  and  then  all  the  aversion  of  the 
people.  It  was  believed  that  a  like  favoritism  could 
be  recognized  in  the  relations  of  the  son  of  the  Duch- 
ess with  Charles  X.  To  this  unpopularity,  inherited 
from  his  mother,  was  joined  another  that  was  directed 
against  the  person  of  the  emigrSr 

After  having  been  one  of  the  courtiers  of  the  little 
court  at  Coblenz,  he  had  taken  service  for  some  time 
in  Russia,  and  then  passed  into  England,  where  he 
had  been  one  of  the  most  intimate  confidants,  and 
one  of  the  most  active  agents  of  the  Count  d'Artois. 
Sent  secretly  into  France,  with  his  elder  brother,  the 
Duke  Armand  de  Polignac,  he  was,  like  the  latter, 
compromised  in  the  Cadoudal  conspiracy.  Theii'  trial 
is  remarkable  for  the  noble  strife  of  devotion,  in  which 
each  of  the  brothers  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  other  at 
the  expense  of  his  own.  Armand  was  condemned  to 
death.  His  wife  threw  herself  at  the  feet  of  the  First 
Consul,  who,  thanks  to  the  intercession  of  Josephine, 
commuted  the  penalty  of  death  to  perpetual  confine- 
ment. Jules  was  condemned  to  prison,  and  shared 
the  captivity  of  his  brother.  Confined  at  first  in  the 
castle  of  Ham,  then  in  the  Temple,  then  at  Vin- 
cennes,  they  obtained,  at  the  time  of  the  marriage  of 


280  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

Napoleon  with  Marie  Louise,  their  transfer  to  a  hos- 
pitaL  There  they  knew  the  General  Mallet,  but  the 
part  they  were  suspected  of  taking  in  his  conspiracy 
was  never  proven.  When  the  allied  armies  entered 
France,  they  succeeded  in  escaping,  and  rejoined  the 
Count  d'Artois  at  Vesoul.  They  penetrated  to  Paris 
some  days  before  the  capitulation,  and  displayed  the 
white  flag  there  the  3d  of  March,  1814. 

Peer  of  France,  field-marshal,  ambassador,  the 
Prince  Jules  de  Polignac  was  one  of  the  favorites  of 
the  Restoration.  On  the  proposition  of  M.  de  Cha- 
teaubriand, then  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  he  had 
him  named,  in  1823,  ambassador  to  London,  where 
he  had  shown  a  genuine  talent  for  diplomacy.  The 
example  of  England  made  him  think  that  in  France 
the  liberties  of  the  constitutional  regime  could  be 
combined  with  the  directing  influence  of  an  aris- 
tocracy. That  was  his  error  and  the  cause  of  his 
fall.  Some  weeks  before  his  accession  to  the  minis- 
try, he  had  solemnly  affirmed  in  the  Chamber  of 
Peers,  that  he  considered  the  Charter  as  a  solemn 
pact,  on  which  rested  the  monarchical  institutions  of 
France,  and  as  the  heavenly  sign  of  a  serene  future. 
But  the  liberals  did  not  believe  his  word,  and  accused 
him  of  striving  to  re-establish  the  old  r(*gime. 

Even  at  court  the  accession  of  the  Prince  de  Poli- 
gnac did  not  fail  to  cause  apprehension.  Charles  X., 
having  announced  to  the  Duchess  of  Gontaut  that 
he  was  going  to  appoint  him  minister,  added :  "  This 
news  must  give  you  pleasure  ;  you  know  him  well,  I 


THE  PRINCE  DE  POLIGNAC. 


THE  PRINCE  BE  FOLIGNAC  281 

believe."  The  Duchess  replied :  "  He  has  been  absent 
a  long  time.  I  only  knew  him  when  very  young." 
The  King  resumed :  "  Do  not  speak  of  it ;  it  is  my 
secret  as  yet."  Madame  de  Gontaut  could  not  keep 
from  smiling,  for  she  held  several  letters  from  London 
in  her  hand,  among  others  one  from  the  sister-in-law 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  announcing  the  news. 
Charles  X.  wished  to  see  the  letters.  "  He  is  good, 
loyal,"  they  said,  "  loving  the  King  as  one  loves  a 
friend,  but  feeble,  and  with  bad  surroundings.  It  is 
doubted  whether  he  can  evei'  rise  to  the  height  of  the 
post  in  which  the  King  wishes  to  place  him." 

Charles  X.,  wounded  by  the  indiscretion  of  the 
Prince,  and  also  by  that  of  the  Duke  of  ^V'ellington, 
who  divulged  what  he  himself  was  keeping  secret, 
returned  the  letter  to  Madame  de  Gontaut,  and 
remarked :  — 

"  It  is  very  thoughtless  in  Jules  to  have  spoken  of 
it  so  soon,  and  in  the  Duke  to  have  published  it." 
The  Duchess  of  Gontaut,  who  was  used  to  frank  talk 
with  the  King,  said :  "  In  the  circumstances  existing, 
I  long  for,  I  confess  it  frankly,  and  at  the  risk  of 
displeasing  Your  Majesty^  yes,  I  long  for  the  Marti- 
gnac  ministry." 

Then,  adds  the  Duchess  in  her  unpublished 
Memoirs,  the  King,  more  impatient  than  ever,  turned 
his  back  on  me,  and  took  his  way  to  his  apartment.  I 
had  had  the  courage  to  tell  him  my  thought  and  the 
truth.  I  did  not  repent  it.  When  we  saw  each  other 
again  the  same  day  he  did  not  speak  to  me  again  of  it. 


282  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERET 

One  of  those  most  devoted  to  the  elder  branch,  the 
Duke  Ambroise  de  la  Rochefoucauld-Doudeauville, 
also  says  in  his  Memoirs :  — 

"  The  King  sincerely  wished  for  the  Charter,  what- 
ever may  be  said,  but  he  wished  for  the  monarchy ; 
he,  therefore,  decided  to  change  ministers  who  had 
made  promises  that  seemed  to  him  fatal,  and  to  replace 
them  by  others  whose  principles  suited  him  better. 
He  was  not  happy  in  this  choice,  it  must  be  agreed. 
He  took  as  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  President 
of  the  Council  the  Prince  de  Polignac.  For  a  long 
time  public  opinion  had  foreseen  this  choice,  and 
dreaded  it.  At  the  commencement  of  the  Restoration 
M.  de  Polignac  for  more  than  a  year  had  refused  to 
recognize  the  Charter  and  to  swear  fidelity  to  it, 
which  made  him  regarded  as  the  pronounced  enemy 
of  our  institutions.  Was  this  antipathy  real  ?  I  do 
not  think  so.  He  had  for  a  long  time  lived  in  Eng- 
land, as  ambassador,  and  was  thoroughly  imbued  with 
principles  at  once  very  constitutional  and  very  aristo- 
cratic, after  the  English  fashion.  His  devotion  was 
great,  as  well  as  his  personal  merit,  but  his  resources 
as  a  statesman  were  not  so  much  so;  he  took  his 
desire  to  do  well  for  the  capacity  to  do  well,  and  he 
mistook." 

When  he  assumed  the  direction  of  affairs  the 
Prince  de  Polignac  was  wholly  surprised  at  the  sys- 
tematic and  obstinate  opposition  that  he  encountered. 
As  M.  Guizot  said,  "he  was  sincerely  astonished 
that  he  was  not  willingly  accepted   as   a   minister 


THE  PRINCE  BE  POLIGNAC  283 

devoted  to  the  constitutional  rc^girae.  But  the  pub- 
lic, without  troubling  itself  to  know  if  he  were 
sincere  or  not,  persisted  in  seeing  in  him  the  cham- 
pion of  the  old  rdgime  and  the  standard-bearer  of  the 
counter-Re  volution." 

Although  he  had  passed  a  part  of  his  life  in  Eng- 
land, first  as  emigre^  then  as  ambassador,  and  had 
married  as  his  first  wife  an  English  lady,  ISIiss  Camp- 
bell, and  as  his  second  another,  the  daughter  of  Lord 
Radcliffe,  the  Prince  de  Polignac  was  French  at 
heart. 

No  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  France  had  in 
higher  degree  the  sentiment  of  the  national  dignity. 
Yet  this  is  the  way  the  Dcbafs  expressed  itself,  the  16th 
of  August,  1829,  about  a  man  who,  the  next  year,  at 
the  time  of  the  glorious  Algiers  Expedition,  was  to 
hold  toward  England  language  so  proud  and  firm :  — 

"The  manifesto  of  M.  de  Polignac  comes  to  us 
from  England.  That  is  very  simple.  We  have  a 
minister  who  scarcely  knows  how  to  speak  anything 
but  English.  It  takes  time  to  relearn  one's  native 
tongue  when  one  has  forgotten  it  for  many  years. 
It  appears  even  that  one  never  regains  the  accent  in 
all  its  freedom  and  purity.  In  fact,  the  English 
have  not  given  us  M.  de  Polignac ;  they  have  sold 
him  to  us.  That  people  understand  commerce  so 
well." 

Despite  all  the  violent  criticisms,  all  the  implac- 
able hatreds  by  which  he  was  incessantly  assailed, 
the  Prince  de  Polignac  was  a  noble  character,  and  no 


284  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

one  should  forget  the  justness  of  soul  with  which, 
from  the  commencement  to  the  end  of  his  career,  he 
supported  misfortune  and  captivity.  The  Viscount 
Sosthenes  de  La  Rochefoucauld,  afterwards  the 
Duke  of  Doudeauville,  says,  in  his  Memoirs:  — 

"  The  purest  honor,  the  loftiest  disinterestedness, 
the  sincerest  devotion,  are  not  everything,  there  is 
needed  a  capacity  for  affairs,  a  knowledge  of  men, 
which  experience  alone  procures  and  which  even  the 
strongest  will  cannot  give.  M.  de  Polignac  had  all 
the  qualities  of  the  most  devoted  subject,  but  his 
talent  did  not  rise  to  the  height  of  his  position.  If 
it  had  been  necessary  only  to  suffer  and  to  march  to 
death,  no  one,  surely,  could  have  equalled  him ;  but 
more  was  requisite,  and  he  remained  beneath  the 
level  of  the  circumstances  he  thought  he  was  over- 
coming ;  the  fall  of  the  throne  was  the  consequence. 
How  he  developed,  though,  and  grew  great  when  in 
duress,  and  who  should  flatter  himself  that  he  could 
bear  up  with  a  firmness  more  unshaken  against  the 
severest  trials  ?  If  M.  de  Polignac  is  not  a  type  of 
the  statesman,  he  will  at  least  remain  the  complete 
model  of  the  virtues  of  the  Christian  and  the  private 
citizen." 

The  Prince  de  Polignac  was  mistaken,  but  he 
acted  in  good  faith.  No  one  can  dispute  his  faults, 
but  none  can  suspect  the  purity  of  his  intentions. 
Unfortunately  his  royalism  had  in  it  something  of 
mysticism  and  ecstasy  that  made  of  this  gallant  man 
a  sort  of  illumine.     He   sincerely  believed  that  he 


THE  PBINCE  BE  POLIGNAC  285 

had  received  from  God  the  mission  to  save  the 
throne  and  the  altar,  and  foreseeing  neither  difficul- 
ties nor  obstacles,  regarding  all  uncertainty  and  all 
fear  as  unworthy  of  a  gentleman  and  a  Christian,  he 
had  in  himself  and  in  his  ideas,  that  blind,  imper- 
turbable confidence  that  is  the  characteristic  of  fanat- 
ics. In  a  period  less  troubled,  this  great  noble  would 
perhaps  have  been  a  remarkable  minister  of  foreign 
affairs,  but  in  the  stormy  time  when  he  took  the  helm 
in  hand,  he  had  neither  sufficient  prudence  nor  suffi- 
cient experience  to  resist  the  tempest  and  save  the 
ship  from  the  wreck  in  which  the  dynasty  was  to  go 
down. 


XXIX 

GENERAIi  DE  BOURMONT 

THE  new  Secretary  of  War  awoke  no  less  lively 
anger  than  the  Prince  de  Polignac.  He  was 
a  general  of  great  merit,  bold  to  temerity,  brave  to 
heroism,  and  a  tactician  of  the  first  order.  But  his 
career  had  felt  the  vicissitudes  of  politics,  and  like  so 
many  of  his  contemporaries, —  more,  perhaps,  than 
any  of  them,  —  he  had  played  the  most  contradictory 
parts.  Equally  intrepid  in  the  army  of  Condd,  in  the 
Vend^an  army,  and  in  the  Grand  Army  of  Napoleon, 
he  had  won  as  much  distinction  under  the  white  flag 
as  under  the  tricolor.  The  Emperor,  who  was  an 
expert  in  military  talent,  having  recognized  in  him  a 
superior  military  man,  had  rewarded  his  services  bril- 
liantly. But  it  is  difficult  to  escape  from  the  memo- 
ries of  one's  childhood  and  first  youth. 

General  Count  de  Bourmont,  born  September  2, 
1773,  at  the  Chateau  of  Bourmont  (Maine-et-Loire), 
amid  the  "  Chouans,"  had  shared  their  religious  and 
monarchical  passions.  Officer  of  the  French  Guards 
at  sixteen,  and  dismissed  by  the  Revolution,  he  fol- 
lowed his  father  at  the  beginning  of  the  Emigration, 
lost  him  at  Turin,  then  went  to  join  the  Count 
286 


GENERAL   BE   BOURMONT  287 

d'Artois  at  Coblenz.  He  took  part  in  the  campaign 
of  1792,  until  the  disbandment  of  the  Prince's  army, 
served  as  a  simple  cavalryman  in  the  army  of  Condd, 
then  threw  himself  into  La  Vendee  in  the  month  of 
October,  1794.  He  was  second  in  command  of  the 
troops  of  Sc^peaux.  The  Vend<5an  insurrection  of 
1799  recognized  him  as  one  of  its  chiefs.  Victor  at 
Louvern^,  he  seized  Mans  the  15th  of  October,  and 
was  the  last  to  lay  down  his  arms. 

Bourmont  had  a  passion  for  the  life  of  the  camp. 
When  the  royal  troops  had  laid  down  their  arms,  he 
was  ready  to  fight  in  the  ranks  of  the  imperial  troops 
rather  than  not  to  fight  at  all.  He  distinguished 
himself  in  the  Russian  camjDaign,  contributed  to  the 
victory  of  Lutzen,  made  a  heroic  defence  at  Nugent 
during  the  campaign  in  France,  and  was  named 
general  of  division  by  the  Emperor. 

During  the  Hundred  Days,  General  de  Bourmont, 
guilty  as  was  Marshal  Ney,  abandoned  the  cause  of 
Napoleon  as  the  Marshal  had  that  of  Louis  XVIIL 
But  there  were  attenuating  circumstances  for  their 
conduct.  One  could  not  resist  the  prestige  of  the 
Emperor,  nor  the  other  that  of  the  King.  What 
aggravated  the  situation  of  General  de  Bourmont 
was  that,  after  having  sought  a  command  from  Napo- 
leon, as  Marshal  Ney  had  from  Louis  XVHL,  he 
deserted  three  days  before  the  battle  of  Waterloo. 
The  royalist,  the  soldier  of  the  army  of  Condd,  the 
"Chouan"  had  suddenly  reappeared  under  the  Gen- 
eral of  the  Empire.     His  King  had  summoned  him, 


288  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

and  impelled  by  a  false  sentiment  of  conscience,  he 
had  responded  to  the  appeal  of  his  King.  But  he  was 
wrongly  suspected  of  having  delivered  to  the  English 
and  Prussians  the  plans  of  Napoleon. 

One  may  read  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Duke  Am- 
broise  de  Doudeauville :  — 

"  The  Count  de  Bourmont  was  appointed  Minister 
of  War.  He  had  to  meet  grave  prejudices.  It  was 
claimed  that,  having  accepted  service  under  Bonaparte 
in  the  Hundred  Days,  he  had  deserted  a  few  hours 
before  the  battle  of  Waterloo,  taking  with  him  a  great 
part  of  the  troops,  and  carrying  to  the  enemy  the 
plans  and  projects  of  the  campaign.  I  owe  it  to  the 
truth  to  say  that  this  story  is  greatly  exaggerated.  I 
have  it  from  Marshal  Gerard  himself —  and  his  testi- 
mony cannot  be  suspected  —  that  some  days  before 
this  battle  M.  de  Bourmont  had  written  him  that, 
summoned  by  Louis  XVHI.,  he  believed  it  his  duty 
to  go  to  him,  but  promised  to  guard  the  most  religious 
silence.  He  kept  his  word,  went  alone,  carried  away 
no  plan,  and  faithfully  kept  the  secret." 

The  Duke  adds :  — 

**  I  knew,  from  Charles  X.  himself,  that  he  was  very 
greatly  surprised  at  the  accusation  of  desertion 
brought  against  M.  de  Bourmont  when  he  appointed 
him  minister.  He  had  not  the  least  idea  that  that 
reproach  could  be  addressed  to  him,  for  he  knew  that 
the  General  had  but  obeyed  the  orders  of  Louis  XVIII., 
his  legitimate  sovereign." 

Does  not  this  phrase  show  the  illusions  of  which 


GENERAL   DE  BOURMONT  289 

Charles  X.  was  the  victim  ?  He  never  even  suspected 
that  his  choice  was  a  challenge  to  the  old  soldiers  of 
the  Empire.  Yet  the  violence  of  the  liberal  press 
certainly  extended  the  range  of  insult.  "  As  for 
the  other,"  said  the  Journal  des  Dehats  disdainfully, 
"  on  what  field  of  battle  did  he  win  his  epaulets  ? 
There  are  services  by  which  one  may  profit,  which 
may  even  be  liberally  paid  for,  but  which  no  people 
ever  dreamed  of  honoring."  And,  as  if  the  allusion 
was  not  sufficiently  transparent,  "  I  see,"  added  the 
same  writer,  "  but  one  kind  of  discussion  in  which 
the  minister  can  engage  with  credit  —  that  of  the 
military  code,  and  the  chapter  relating  to  desertion 
to  the  enemy.  There  are  among  our  new  ministers 
those  who  understand  the  question  to  perfection." 
As  for  the  Figaro^  it  confined  itself  to  quoting  this 
line  from  a  proclamation  of  the  General  during  the 
Hundred  Days :  "  The  cause  of  the  Bourbons  is  forever 
lost!     April,  1815.  —  Bourmont." 

Despite  the  virulent  attacks  of  the  journals,  General 
de  Bourmont,  who  had  distinguished  himself  on  so 
many  battle-fields,  had  authority  with  the  troops,  and 
the  Expedition  of  Algiers  the  next  year  was  to  show 
him  to  be  a  military  man  of  the  first  order.  If 
Charles  X.  committed  an  error  in  naming  him  as 
minister,  he  committed  a  greater  one  in  sending  him 
away  from  Paris  before  the  "  ordinances,"  for  no  one 
was  more  capable  of  securing  the  success  of  a  coup 
d'etat.     M.  de  Chateaubriand  remarks  :  — 

"  If  the  General  had  been  in  Paris  at  the  time  of  the 


290  THE  DUCHESS  OF  BERRY 

catastrophe,  the  vacant  portfolio  of  war  would  not 
have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  M.  de  Polignac.  Before 
striking  the  blow,  had  he  consented  to  it,  M.  de 
Bourmont  would  beyond  doubt  have  massed  at  Paris 
the  entire  royal  guard;  he  would  have  provided 
money  and  supplies  so  that  the  soldiers  would  have 
lacked  for  nothing." 

We  are  inclined  to  think,  however,  that  when  he 
took  the  portfolio  of  war  General  de  Bourmont  was 
not  dreaming  of  a  coup  d'etat^  and  that  the  Prince  de 
Polignac  had  as  yet  no  thought  of  it.  This  minister, 
who  was  so  decried,  showed  at  the  outset  such  an 
inoffensive  disposition  that  the  Opposition  was  sur- 
prised and  disturbed  by  it. 

"  The  minister,"  said  the  DSbats,  "boasts  of  his  mod- 
eration, because  in  the  ten  days  of  his  existence,  he  has 
not  put  France  to  fire  and  sword,  because  the  prisons 
are  not  gorged,  because  we  still  walk  the  streets  in 
freedom.  From  all  this,  nevertheless,  flows  a  striking 
lesson.  There  are  men  who  were  going  to  make  an 
end  of  the  spirit  of  the  century.  Well,  they  do  noth- 
ing!" 

The  journals  of  the  Right  lamented  this  inaction. 

"If  the  ministerial  revolution,"  said  the  Quotl- 
dienne,  "  reduces  itself  to  this,  we  shall  retire  to  some 
profound  solitude  where  the  sound  of  the  falling 
monarchy  cannot  reach  us." 

Then,  more  royalist  than  the  King,  M.  de  Lamen- 
nais  wrote  on  the  subject  of  the  new  ministers :  "  It  is 
stupidity  to  which  fear  counsels  silence."     M.  Guizot 


GENERAL   BE  B  OUR  MONT  201 

says  in  his  Memoires  pour  servir  a  Vhistoire  cle  mon 
temps :  — 

"  This  ministry,  formed  to  overcome  the  Revolution 
and  save  the  monarchy,  remained  inert  and  sterile. 
The  Opposition  insultingly  charged  it  with  impotence ; 
it  called  it  the  hectoring  ministry,  the  dullest  of  min- 
istries, and,  for  answer,  it  prepared  the  expedition 
of  Algiers  and  prorogued  the  Chambers,  protesting 
always  its  fidelity  to  the  Charter,  promising  itself  to 
get  out  of  its  embarrassments  by  a  majority  and  a 
conquest." 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  had  seen  without  apprehen- 
sion, and  perhaps  even  with  pleasure,  the  nomination 
of  the  new  ministers.  Tranquillity  reigned  in  France- 
There  was  no  symptom  of  agitation,  no  sign  of  dis- 
quiet in  the  circle  surrounding  the  Princess,  and  after 
an  agreeable  stay  of  some  weeks  at  Dieppe,  she  pro- 
ceeded to  the  south,  where  her  journey  was  a 
triumph. 


XXX 

THE  JOTJENEY  IN  THE  SOUTH 

THE  journey  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry  in  the  south 
of  France,  in  1829,  was  scarcely  less  triumphant 
than  that  she  had  made  in  the  Vendue  the  year  before. 
The  object  of  the  Princess  was  to  meet  her  family  of 
the  Two  Sicilies,  which  was  traversing  the  kingdom 
on  the  way  from  Italy  to  Spain,  to  escort  to  Madrid 
the  young  Marie-Christine,  who  was  about  to  espouse 
King  Ferdinand  VII.  —  his  fourth  wife. 

Born  October  13, 1784,  King  since  March  19,  1808, 
Ferdinand  VII.  had  married,  first,  Marie  Antoinette, 
Princess  of  the  Two  Sicilies ;  second,  Isabelle-Marie 
Frangoise, Princess  of  Portugal;  third,  Marie- Josephe- 
Am^lie,  Princess  of  Saxony.  He  had  chosen  for  his 
fourth  wife,  Marie-Christine,  Princess  of  the  Two 
Sicilies,  born  April  27,  1806.  Sister  of  the  father  of 
the  Duchess  of  Berry,  Marie-Christine  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  Francois  I.,  King  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  and  his  sec- 
ond wife,  the  Infanta  of  Spain,  Marie-Isabelle,  born 
October  13,  1784,  and  sister  of  Ferdinand  II.  The 
King  of  the  Two  Sicilies  was  escorting  his  daughter, 
Maiie-Christine,  to  the  King  of  Spain,  where  she  was 

to  marry  at  INIadrid  the    11th   of   December,    1829. 
292 


THE  JOURNEY  IN    THE  SOUTU  293 


Ferdinand  VII.  had  a  brother,  the  Infante  Frangois 
de  Paule,  born  March  10,  1784,  who  had  espoused  a 
princess  of  the  Two  Sicilies,  Louise-Caroline-Marie 
Isabelle,  born  October  24,  1804,  sister  of  the  Duchess 
of  Berry.  From  this  marriage  was  born  the  Infante 
Don  Francisco  of  d'Assisi,  husband  of  Queen  Isabelle. 
The  Infante  and  Infanta  Francois  de  Paule  traversed 
the  south  of  France,  to  meet  the  Bourbons  of  Naples. 
We  may  add  that  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  sister  of 
King  Frangois  L,  aunt  of  Marie-Christine  and  of  the 
Duchess  of  Berry,  went  with  her  husband  to  the 
eastern  frontier  of  France  to  meet  her  relatives. 

The  Duchess  of  Berry,  authorized  by  Charles  X. 
to  go  to  the  south  to  meet  her  father,  her  step-mother, 
and  her  sisters,  left  Saint  Cloud,  October  10,  1829. 
The  17th,  she  was  at  Lyons,  whither  she  promised 
to  return.  At  Valence,  she  found  her  step-brother 
and  her  sister,  the  Infante  and  Infanta  Francois  de 
Paule,  and  returned  with  them  to  Lyons,  where, 
October  20,  she  was  greeted  by  a  great  crowd,  eager 
to  look  upon  her  face.  At  the  Grand  Theatre  Their 
Highnesses  assisted  at  a  performance,  in  which  the 
actor  Bernard-Le6n,  Jr.,  played  the  part  of  Poudret 
in  Le  Coiffeur  et  le  Perruquier. 

Their  Highnesses  quitted  Lyons,  October  23,  vis- 
ited the  Grande-Chartreuse  the  24th,  and  were  at 
Grenoble  the  25th,  where  they  met  the  Bourbons  of 
Naples,  who  arrived  in  that  city  the  31st,  coming 
from  Chambery.  The  Duchess  of  Berry,  the  Infante 
and  Infanta  Francois  de  Paulo,  the  Duke  and  Duch- 


294  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BEERY 

ess  of  Oileans,  received  them  at  their  entry  into 
France.  Everywhere,  from  the  frontier  to  Grenoble, 
the  Sicilian  Majesties  were  met  by  the  authorities, 
the  mayors,  the  clergy.  Triumphal  arches  were 
erected  by  various  communes.  The  one  constructed 
by  the  Marquis  de  Marcieu,  in  the  wood  of  the 
avenue  of  his  Chglteau  of  Trouvet,  was  especially 
remarked.  This  arch  formed  three  porticoes,  sur- 
mounted by  the  arms  of  France,  Naples,  and  Spain. 
Above  were  these  words,  "  Love  to  all  the  Bourbons." 
The  grand  avenue  of  the  chateau  was  draped  from 
one  end  to  the  other.  Every  tree  bore  a  white  flag. 
Garlands  of  verdure,  mingled  with  these  flags, 
formed  an  arbor  that  stretched  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
see.  Thirty  young  girls,  clad  in  white,  crowned 
with  flowers,  and  holding  little  flags  in  their  hands, 
were  ranged  in  two  lines  near  the  arch.  They 
offered  to  the  King  of  Naples,  to  the  Queen  and  the 
princesses,  bouquets  and  baskets  of  fruits.  When 
the  cortege  arrived  before  Grenoble,  the  mayor  said  : 
"Sire,  the  descendants  of  Louis  XIV.  have  impre- 
scriptible rights  to  our  respect,  to  our  love.  We  can 
never  forget  their  origin  nor  the  indissoluble  bonds 
that  bind  them  to  our  native  land,  and  still  less 
the  virtues  and  goodness  that  distinguish  this 
illustrious  dynasty."  He  added :  "  Sire,  the  city  of 
Grenoble  deems  itself  happy  in  being  the  first  city 
of  France  to  present  to  Your  Majesties  the  homage 
of  our  respects,  and  to  thank  you  for  the  noble  pres- 
ent you  have  made  to  our  land  in  the  person  of  your 


THE  JOUBNEY  IN  THE  SOUTH  29o 

illustrious  daughter,  Madame,  Duchess  of  Berry. 
May  the  future  Queen  of  Spain  long  embellish  the 
throne  on  which  she  is  about  to  take  her  seat,  and 
reign  over  the  hearts  of  her  new  subjects  as  her 
heroic  sister  reigns  over  ours.  Long  live  the  King  ! 
Forever  live  the  Bourbons ! " 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  accompanied  her  relatives 
to  the  Pyrenees.  The  journey  was  a  long  series 
of  ovations.  Marie-Christine,  who  was  about  to 
ascend  the  throne  of  Spain,  never  ceased  to  ad- 
mire the  riches  and  beauty  of  France.  "  Ah,  my 
sister,"  said  the  Duchess  of  Berry  to  her,  "  do  not 
contemplate  it  too  much.  You  would  not  be  able 
to  quit  it !  "  During  the  entire  passage — at  Valence, 
Avignon,  Montpellier,  Nimes  —  the  people  rivalled 
the  authorities  in  making  the  welcome  as  brilliant  as 
possible.  Perpignan  was  reached  the  10th  of  Novem- 
ber. The  King  and  Queen  of  Naples,  the  Duchess 
of  Berry,  and  the  future  Queen  of  Spain,  journeyed 
together  in  an  uncovered  caleche.  Madame  accom- 
panied her  relatives  to  the  frontier  at  Perthus,  where 
she  bade  them  adieu,  the  13th  of  November.  The 
French  troops  from  the  foot  of  Bellegarde  flanked 
the  right  of  the  road.  At  the  first  salute  fired  from 
the  fort,  an  immense  crowd  of  French  and  Spanish, 
who  occupied  the  heights,  greeted  with  harmonious 
shouts  the  appearance  of  the  royal  carriage.  On  an 
arch  of  triumph,  erected  on  the  Spanish  side  of  the 
frontier,  floated  the  flags  of  the  three  peoples  placed 
under  the  sceptre  of  the  Bourbons.     That  of  France 


296  THE  DUCHESS   OF  BERRY 

was  ill  the  middle  and  seemed  to  protect  those  of 
Spain  and  Naples  on  either  side.  Thus  was  indi- 
cated the  mother  branch  of  the  three  reigning  fami- 
lies. The  adieux  were  made  with  effusion.  The 
Duchess  of  Berry  fell  at  the  feet  of  her  father,  who 
hastened  to  raise  her  and  embrace  her  tenderly.  The 
two  sisters  threw  themselves  into  each  other's  arms. 
Then  they  parted. 

While  the  Bourbons  of  Naples  were  entering  on 
the  soil  of  Spain,  the  Duchess  of  Berry  returned  to 
Perpignan.  She  left  there  the  14th,  and  the  ovations 
were  renewed  along  the  route.  The  16th,  she  passed 
through  Montpellier,  where  she  admired  the  prome- 
nade of  the  Peyrou,  whence  are  perceived  the  sea, 
the  Pyrenees,  and  the  Alps,  and  saw  the  foundations 
prepared  for  an  equestrian  statue  of  Louis  XIV. 
The  17th,  at  Tarascon,  she  breakfasted  with  the  Mar- 
quis de  Gras-Preville,  and  was  present  at  the  games  in- 
stituted by  good  King  Rene,  —  tambourine  dances  and 
the  races  of  the  Tarasque.  The  18th,  at  Aries,  she 
visited  the  Cloister  of  Saint  Trophime,  and  the 
Roman  circus.  About  eighteen  thousand  persons 
were  crowded  on  the  ancient  benches.  The  gal- 
leries resounded  with  military  music  which,  borne 
from  echo  to  echo,  spread  beneath  all  the  arches. 
In  the  evening  the  entire  city  was  illuminated.  From 
a  balcony,  the  Princess  assisted  at  a  pegoulade,  a  sort 
of  torchlight  promenade  of  five  or  six  hundred  young 
people,  who  bore  pieces  of  tarred  rope  lighted  at  one 
end.      She  desired  to   see  again   these  bizarre   and 


THE  JOURNEY  IN    THE  SOUTH  297 

picturesque  effects  of  light,  this  joyous  procession, 
this  clamorous  animation,  and  she  had  the  enthusias- 
tic cortege  file  a  second  time  under  her  windows. 
The  21st,  she  visited  the  Roman  theatre  at  Orange, 
one  of  the  most  curious  ruins  of  the  world.  The  23d, 
she  passed  again  through  Lyons.  The  28th,  she  was 
at  the  Tuileries  for  dinner. 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  returned  enchanted  with 
her  journey.  Never  had  the  throne  of  the  Bourbons 
seemed  to  her  more  solid,  never  were  the  advantages 
of  the  family  pact  revealed  in  a  more  brilliant  man- 
ner. The  Moniteur  wrote :  "  The  Princess  Marie- 
Christine  has  heard  her  name  mingling  in  the  air 
with  that  of  her  whose  son  is  one  day  to  be  King  of 
France.  Happy  the  new  Queen,  if  her  presence  shall 
deliver  Spain  from  the  factions  that  still  divide  it, 
and  if,  finding  beyond  the  mountains  the  same  order, 
devotion,  prosperity,  as  in  our  provinces,  she  can  cry, 
'  There  are  no  longer  any  Pyrenees.'  " 

The  Duchess  of  Berry  had  not  found  the  inclina- 
tions of  the  south  less  royalist  than  that  of  La  Ven- 
due. Everywhere  protestations  were  made  to  her, 
verging  on  lyrism,  on  idolatry ;  the  idea  of  suspecting 
such  demonstrations  never  crossed  her  mind.  She 
persuaded  herself  that  France  loved  her  as  much  as 
she  loved  France. 


INDEX 


Adfla'ide,  Madame,  remains  of,  re- 
interred  in  Saint-Denis,  27. 

Almoner,  Grand,  tlie,  90. 

Ampulla,  the  holy,  containing  the 
coronation  oil,  127. 

Angouleme,  Duke  of,  his  character 
and  qualities,  48  et  seq.;  deserves 
credit  for  his  part  in  the  Spanish 
expedition,  49;  marriage  of,  to 
the  daughter  of  Louis  XVI. ,  50. 

Angoideme,  Duchess  of,  51  et  seq.; 
her  character  and  habits,  51 ;  her 
apartments,  52 ;  her  charity,  52, 
53 ;  brusqueness  of,  55 ;  not  de- 
ceived, 55, 56 ;  affection  of  Charles 
X.  for,  57 ;  absent  from  the  expi- 
atory solemnity  at  Paris,  173; 
insulted  at  the  review  of  the 
National  Guard,  203. 

Arques,  Chateau  of,  reception  of 
the  Duchess  of  Berry  at,  267. 

Aumale,  Duke  d',  73. 

Avant,  Pendant,  Apres,  Scribe's 
drama,  262. 

Barrere,  advocates  the  destruction 
of  the  royal  tombs  at  Saint- 
Denis,  22. 

Barthelemy,  celebrates  the  corona- 
tion in  verse,  159. 

Berry,  the  Duke  of,  remains  in- 
terred in  Saint-Denis,  38. 

Berry,  Duchess  of,  present  at  the 
death  of  Louis  XVIIL,  3;  her 
optimism,  9;  her  friendship  for 
the  Duchess  of  Angouleme,  58; 
her  character  and  manner,  58, 
59;  her  lovo  of  freedom,  59;  her 
gaiety,  60;  tlie  queen  of  elegance, 


61 ;  never  meddled  in  politics,  62 ; 
led  an  active  life,  63 ;  very  char- 
itable, 64,  65,  67;  her  pleasure 
house  Rosny,  65 ;  instances  of  her 
charity  and  kindness  of  heart, 
67  et  seq. ;  her  devotion  to  France 
and  to  her  son,  70 ;  her  affection 
for  her  aunt,  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans,  74 ;  refuses  to  make  an 
arrangement  with  Madame  Feu- 
ch^res,  88;  her  household,  114  et 
seq. ;  order  in  her  houseliold, 
121;  triumphant  journey  of,  in 
the  west  of  France,  224  et  seq. ; 
at  Chambord,  224;  in  the  Vende'e, 
225  et  seq. ;  at  Nantes,  229;  lays 
the  corner-stone  of  a  monument 
in  honor  of  the  Vende'an  victories, 
231 ;  at  Bordeaux,  233  et  seq.  ; 
in  the  Pyrenees,  235 ;  returns  to 
Paris,  236 ;  brilliancy  of  her  soci- 
ety, 237;  the  Mary  Stuart  ball 
given  by  her,  237 ;  takes  the  Gym- 
nase  theatre  under  her  protec- 
tion, 258;  her  relations  with 
Scribe,  265;  her  affection  for 
Dieppe,  26(5 ;  the  incidents  of  her 
visits  there,  267  et  seq. ;  her 
kindness  of  heart  shown  at 
Dieppe,  270;  her  journey  in  the 
south  of  France,  292  et  seq.;  at 
Grenoble,  293. 

Bonapartism  believed  to  be  dead, 
10. 

Bordeaux,  enthusiasm  over  the 
Duchess  of  Berry  in,  234. 

Bordeaux,  the  Duke  of,  4,  6;  and 
his  sister,  warned  by  their  gov- 
erness against  dattery,  181,  182; 
299 


300 


INDEX 


at  his  seventh  year  passes  to  the 
hands  of  the  Duke  of  Riviere, 
183;  his  character  described  in  a 
letter  of  the  Duchess  of  Gontant, 
184;  his  three  governors,  187; 
his  sub-governors  and  preceptor, 
193,  195. 

Bossuet,  funeral  oration  of  Madame 
Henriette  preached  by,  in  Saint- 
Denis,  37. 

Bourbon,  Duke  of,  see  Prince  of 
Conde. 

Bourbons,  remains  of,  recovered 
and  reinterred  in  Saint-Denis, 
26. 

Bourmont,  General,  Count  de.  Sec- 
retary of  War,  his  life  and  char- 
acter, 286  et  seq.;  his  military 
ability,  289. 

Cadoudal  Conspiracy,  the,  the 
Polignacs'  part  in,  279. 

Chabrol,  Count  of,  address  of,  46. 

Chantilly,  the  society  at,  82;  the 
life  at,  86. 

Charlemagne,  the  crown  of,  148, 
150. 

Charles  X.,  accession  of,  1  et  seq.  ; 
goes  to  Saint  Cloud,  4 ;  receives 
the  felicitations  of  the  Corps 
de  riiltat,  5;  makes  a  solemn 
entry  into  Paris,  11 ;  an  excellent 
horseman,  13;  attends  a  review 
on  the  Champ-de-Mars,  14  et  seq. ; 
his  popularity,  17 ;  not  to  be  al- 
lowed to  rest  in  Saint-Denis,  39; 
birth  of,  41 ;  attraction  of  his  per- 
sonality, 42;  his  imposing  man- 
ner, 43 ;  the  dignity  of  his  private 
life,  44;  Lamartine's  estimate  of 
his  character,  45 ;  his  family,  48; 
had  a  kindly  feeling  for  the  Or- 
leans family,  75,  76 ;  restores  the 
Duke  of  Orleans  to  his  former 
privileges  and  domain,  77  et  seq. ; 
his  affection  for  the  Duke  of 
Bourbon,  86;  his  civil  household, 
90  et  seq. ;  his  military  household, 
96 ;  routine  of  his  court  at  Com- 


pi^gne,  98 ;  deeply  religious,  100 ; 
set  a  good  example,  101 ;  his  gener- 
osity, 102 ;  his  character  summed 
up,  102 ;  decides  to  be  crowned  at 
Kheims,  125 ;  at  Compiogne,  131 ; 
received  at  Rheims  by  the  clergy, 
135 ;  summoned  to  the  corona- 
tion, 141;  takes  the  oath,  146; 
anointed,  147;  crowned,  148;  sub- 
sequent ceremonies  in  which  he 
officiated,  152  et  seq. ;  his  vest- 
ments, 153;  confers  orders,  155 
et  seq.;  visits  the  hospital  and 
touches  scrofulous  patients,  157 ; 
at  the  abbey  of  Saint  Remi,  157; 
reviews  the  troops,  158 ;  re-enters 
Paris,  160;  fete  to,  by  the  city 
of  Paris,  163;  his  piety  a  cause 
of  offence,  166;  his  pledge  to 
Madame  de  Polastron,  167;  his 
exemplary  life,  168;  assists  at 
the  ceremony  of  the  Jubilee,  170 ; 
hostility  shown  to,  at  the  expia- 
tory ceremony,  173 ;  his  amiable 
yet  severe  character,  175;  his 
life  exemplary,  176 ;  at  Holyrood, 
as  the  Count  d'Artois,  179;  be- 
loved by  the  court,  198;  the 
National  Guard  received  by, 
at  the  Tuileries,  199 ;  withdraws 
the  law  as  to  the  press,  200;  re- 
fuses to  countermand  the  review 
of  the  National  Guards,  200 ;  re- 
views the  National  Guards,  201  et 
seq. ;  unfriendliness  to,  apparent, 
202;  dissolvesthe  National  Guard, 
207 ;  disregards  the  warnings  of 
his  friends,  208,  209 ;  accused  of 
giving  too  much  time  to  the 
chase,  211 ;  his  popularity  dwin- 
dling, 214;  dismisses  M.  de 
Villfele,  216;  maintains  relations 
with  him,  218;  his  journey  in  the 
departments,  220;  reception  of, 
in  Alsace,  221 ;  visited  by  the 
King  of  Wiirtemberg  in  Alsace, 
222  ;  confident  of  the  future,  223; 
his  reign  illustrious  from  the 
point  of  view  of  arts  and  letters, 


INDEX 


301 


245;  his  generous  treatment  of 
writers  and  artists,  24S;  main- 
tains a  high  standard  in  music 
and  tlie  drama,  255 ;  appoints  the 
Polignac  ministry,  27()  et  seq. ; 
frankness  of  Madame  de  Gontaut 
to,  281. 

Chartres,  Duke  of,  72;  at  tlie  hall 
of  Mary  Stuart,  339. 

Chateaubriand,  pamphlet  of,  on 
the  accession  of  Cliarles  X.,  7; 
quoted,  25;  urges  Cliarles  X.  to 
be  consecrated  by  a  public  coro- 
nation, 123,  131,  137;  knighted 
by  the  King,  155  ;  M^.moires 
d'outre-tombe  quoted,  159;  de- 
sired to  replace  the  Dnke  of 
Montmorency  as  governor  of  the 
Duke  of  Bordeaux,  190 ;  tries  to 
persuade  the  King  to  change  his 
ministry,  200;  on  General  de 
Bourmont,  289. 

Cinq  Mars,  the,  of  Alfred  de 
Vigny,  248. 

Compiegne,  life  of  the  court  at,  98. 

Conde,  Prince  of,  his  career,  81 ; 
his  household  at  Chantilly,  83; 
under  the  influence  of  Madame 
Feucheres,  84;  fond  of  hunting, 
85  ;  description  of  the  life  at  his 
court,  8G. 

Corbiere,  M.  de,  258. 

Coronation,  the,  of  Charles  X.,  123 
et  seq.,  139;  the  persons  present, 
140;  ceremonies  of,  141  et  seq. 

Courier,  Paul  Louis,  78. 

Damas,  Baron  de,  appointed  gov- 
ernor of  the  Duke  of  Bordeaux, 
195,  19(5. 

Dawes,  Sophie,  83.  See  Madame 
de  Feucheres. 

Debuts,  the,  on  the  Polignac  min- 
istry, 276 ;  on  Prince  de  Polignac, 
283.' 

Delacroix,  249. 

Delaroche,  Paul,  249. 

Delavigne,  Casimir,  248. 

Dieppe,   indebtedness    of,    to   the 


Duchess  of  Berry,  2C)Cy ;  inaugura- 
tion of  a  playhouse  in,  2H7. 

Doudeauville,  Duke  Ambroise,  on 
the  King's  religion,  101,  104;  his 
early  years,  105;  his  marriage, 
106;  his  career,  108  et  seq.;  min- 
ister of  the  King's  household, 
111;  his  death,  112;  his  concei)- 
tiou  of  a  good  woman,  112,  113; 
on  the  King's  passion  for  the 
chase,  212,  285;  on  the  King's 
change  of  ministers,  282;  on  the 
Prince  de  Polignac,  284;  on  the 
Count  de  Bourmont,  288. 

Drapeau  Blanc,  the,  quoted,  46. 

Duraas,  Alexandre,  his  Henri  III. 
et  la  Cour,  248. 

Dumas,  Alexandre,  fils,  246. 

Entre'es,  the  classes  of  the,  92. 
Equerry,  the  First,  94. 

Fare,  Cardinal  de  la,  sermon  of, 
before  Charles  X.,  135. 

Feucheres,  Baron  of,  his  marriage 
to  Sophie  Dawes,  83. 

Feucheres,  Madame  de,  her  influ- 
ence over  the  Prince  of  Conde, 
84;  her  schemes  with  regard  to 
his  will,  87. 

Foy,  General,  subscriptions  to  the 
fund  for  his  children,  79. 

Funeral  ceremonies  of  Louis 
XVIIL.  2fyctseq. 

Gerard,  the  painter,  249. 

Gervinus,  the  German  historian, 
quoted,  278. 

Gontaut,  Madame  de,  receives  the 
announcement  of  the  death  of 
Louis  XVIIL,  3;  relates  an  inci- 
dent of  the  royal  entry  into 
Paris,  12 ;  incident  of  the  King's 
hat  related  by,  SO;  her  Memoirs, 
177;  her  birth,  178;  exile,  179; 
at  Holyrood  with  the  Count 
d'Artois,  ISO;  witli  Louis  XVIIL 
at  Hartwell,  180 ;  made  governess 
of  the  Children  of  France,  181; 


302 


INDEX 


created  Duchess,  183;  letter  of, 
to  the  Duke  de  Kiviere  couceru- 
ing  the  j'oung  Duke  of  Bordeaux, 
183;  her  frankness  to  Charles 
X.,  186;  hears  of  Polignac's  ap- 
pointment from  London,  281. 

Grand  Chamberlain  of  France,  91. 

Grand  Huntsman,  the,  95. 

Grand  Master  of  Ceremonies,  the, 
95. 

Grand  Master  of  France,  the,  90. 

Grenoble,  the  Duchess  of  Berry  at, 
293. 

Gros,  the  painter,  249. 

Guizot,  on  Prince  de  Polignac, 
282,  290. 

Gymnase,  the,  called  the  Theatre  de 
Madame,  48;  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Duchess  of  Berry, 
257 ;  origin  of,  257  et  seq. 

Hausson-sille,  Count  d',  on  Charles 
X.,  42;  on  the  coronation,  139, 
144 ;  on  the  ceremony  of  the  Or- 
der of  the  Holy  Ghost,  154;  on 
the  unsatisfactory  reception  of 
the  King  on  re-entering  Paris, 
161;  on  the  nobility,  164. 

Heim,  picture  of  Charles  X.  dis- 
tributing the  prizes  for  the  Ex- 
position of  1824,  249. 

Hernani,  first  representation  of, 
247. 

Holy  Ghost,  ceremony  of  the  Or- 
der of,  at  Rheims,  152 ;  persons 
presented,  152. 

Household,  civil,  of  the  King, 
90. 

Households  of  the  Dauphin,  Dau- 
phiness,  and  the  Duchess  of 
Berry,  96. 

Hugo,  Victor,  159 ;  works  of,  pub- 
lished under  Charles  X.,  24<;,  247, 
248. 

Huntley,  Marquis  of,  opens  the 
Mary  Stuart  ball  with  Mademoi- 
selle, 239. 

Ingres,  249. 


Joinville,  Prince  de,  73. 
Jubilee  celebrated  in  Paris  in  1826, 
169. 

La  Belle  Fermiere,  261. 

La  Rosiere,  258. 

Lamartine,  his  estimate  of  the 
character  of  Charles  X.,  44,  1.59; 
tbe  poet  of  the  Restoration,  245, 
246. 

Lamennais,  M.  de,  on  the  new  min- 
isters, 290. 

Lamy,  Eugene,  painted  a  picture 
of  the  Mary  Stuart  ball,  243. 

Lenoir,  Alexander,  supervisor  of 
the  destruction  of  the  royal 
tombs  at  Saint-Denis,  23;  his 
Histoire  des  Arts  en  France  pour 
les  Monuments,  25. 

Lisle,  Leconte  de,  M.,  246. 

Louis  XVL,  remains  of,  transferred 
to  Saint-Denis,  25;  remains  of, 
reinterred  in  Saint-Denis,  27 ; 
relics  of,  preserved  by  the  Duch- 
ess of  Augouleme,  52 ;  coronation 
of,  123;  expiatory  ceremony  in 
honor  of,  172. 

Louis  XVII.,  relics  of  his  imprison- 
ment, 52. 

Louis  XVIII.,  gathering  of  cour- 
tiers in  the  Tuileries  at  liis  death, 
1;  funeral  solemnities  of,  20  et 
seq.;  funeral  of,  29  et  seq.;  sus- 
picions of  the  Duke  of  Orleans, 
75. 

Louis  Philippe,  see  Duke  of  Or- 
leans. 

Mademoiselle,  her  reply  when  told 
of  the  King's  death,  4,  6  ;  at 
Dieppe,  271. 

Mallet,  General,  280. 

Maroschal,  M.  Jules,  as  to  his  royal 
appreciation  of  artists  and  writ- 
ers, 250. 

Marie  Amelie,  see  Duchess  of  Or- 
leans. 

Marie  Antoinette,  remains  of, 
transferred   to  Saint-Denis,  25; 


INDEX 


303 


remains  of,  reinterrerl  in  Saint- 
Denis,  27 ;  relics  of,  preserved  by 
the  Duchess  of  Angoulcme,  52. 

Marie  Christine,  about  to  wed  Fer- 
dinand VII.,  292;  her  journey 
■with  the  Duchess  of  Berry  in  the 
south  of  France,  295. 

Marie  Therese  of  Savoy,  44. 

Marmont,  Marshal,  on  the  acces- 
sion of  Charles  X.,  2. 

Martiijnac,  M.  de,  succeeds  M.  de 
Villele  in  the  Ministry  of  the 
Interior,  217. 

Mary  Stuart  ball  given  by  the 
Duchess  of  Berry,  237  et  seq. ; 
the  personages  and  the  costumes, 
238  et  seq.,  2i2. 

Mesnard,  Count  Charles  de,  on  the 
reputation  for  frivolity  of  the 
Duchess  of  Berry,  66 ;  relates  in- 
stances of  her  kindness  of  heart, 
67,  68,  119. 

Mej'erbeer,  254. 

Michelet,  248. 

Moniteur,  the,  quoted,  20,  35,  163, 
172 ;  on  the  procession  durinij  the 
expiatory  ceremony  at  Paris, 
172. 

Montmirail,  Mademoiselle  de, 
married  to  the  Duke  of  Doudeau- 
ville,  106 ;  a  sister  of  tlie  Countess 
of  Montesquiou,  110. 

Montmorency,  Duke  Mathieu,  his 
career,  187  et  seq. 

Montpensier,  Duke  of,  73, 

Musset,  Alfred  de,  248. 

Napoleon  intends  to  provide  sepul- 
ture for  himself  at  Saint-Denis, 
24;  coronation  of,  at  Notre 
Dame,  125. 

Napoleon  III.  not  buried  in  Saint- 
Denis,  39  ;  magnificent  vault 
built  by,  in  Saint-Denis,  40. 

National  Guard,  the  review  of,  199 
et  seq. ;  goes  on  guard  at  the 
Tuileries,  199. 

Nemours,  Duke  of,  73. 

Nettement,  M.  de,  as  to  the  gener- 


osity of    the  Duchess  of  Berry, 
121. 
Noailles,  Countess  of,  the,  116. 

Orleans,  Duke  of,  his  marriage,  72 ; 
his  children,  73;  suspected  by 
Louis  XVIII.,  75 ;  receives  the 
title  of  Royal  Highness  from 
Charles  X.,  76;  and  is  restored 
by  him  to  his  former  privileges 
and  domain,  77;  his  share  of  the 
indemnity,  78;  finesses,  79. 

Orleans,  Ducliess  of,  on  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  accession  of 
Charles  X.,  2,  72,  74 ;  intrigues 
with  Madame  Feucheres,  88,  89. 

Orleans,  Mademoiselle  d',  72. 

Orleanism,  as  yet  a  myth,  10;  ex- 
istence of ,  unsuspected  by  Charles 
X.,  198. 

Orleanist  party,  the,  begins  to  take 
form,  78. 

Oudinot,  Mar^chale,  lady  of  honor 
to  the  Duchess  of  Berry,  114; 
eulogy  of,  by  the  Abbe  Tripled, 
115. 

Paris,  royal  entry  into,  12 ;  review 
of  troops  by  Charles  X.  at  the 
Champ-de-Mars,  15;  celebration 
of  the  Jubilee  in,  170. 

P^ne,  M.  de,  on  Chateaubriand, 
191. 

Penthi^vre,  Duke  of,  73. 

Polastron,  Countess  of,  44;  her 
death-bed  request  of  Charles  X., 
167. 

Polignac,  Duke  Armand  de,  279. 

Poliguac,  Prince  Jules  de,  made 
minister,  276 ;  his  history,  278  et 
seq.;  indiscretion  of,  281 ;  refused 
to  recognize  the  Charter,  282 ;  op- 
position encountered  by,  282,  284. 

Polignac,  Duchess  of,  279. 

Pontmartin,  Count  Armand  de,  his 
portrait  of  the  Duchess  of  Berry, 
69. 

Press,  withdrawal  of  the  law  as  to, 
200. 


304 


INDEX 


Pujol,  Abel  de,  250. 

Fuymaigre,  Count  de,  quoted,  1(! ; 
ou  the  iiuposiu^  maimer  of 
Charles  X.,  43;  on  the  Duke  of 
Angouleme,  50;  on  the  Duchess 
of  Angouleme,  54;  his  account 
of  the  Prince  of  Conde'  and  his 
household,  82  et  seq.;  his  account 
of  the  life  at  court,  08  ;  on  the 
freedom  of  manners  at  Charles 
X.  court,  100. 

Recamier,  Madame  de,  letters  to, 
on  the  death  of  the  Duke  of 
Montmorency,  18'.). 

Reggio,  Duchess  of,  114. 

Review  of  the  National  Guard, 
the  ministry  try  to  dissuade  the 
King  from,  200. 

Rheims,  cathedral  of,  repaired  for 
the  coronation  of  Charles  X., 
12G,  130;  the  rich  display  in,  141 ; 
subsequent  ceremonies  in,  152; 
preparations  in,  for  the  corona- 
tion of  Charles  X.,  129;  crowds 
of  tourists  in,  1.31. 

Riviere,  Duke  of,  becomes  gov- 
ernor of  the  Duke  of  Bordeau.x, 
183;  career  of,  191  et  Kcq.;  his 
devotion  to  the  Duke  of  Bor- 
deaux, 104 ;  his  death,  195. 

Robespierre,  52. 

Rochefoucauld ,  de  La,  Viscount  Sos- 
thenes,  warns  the  King  of  his 
danger,  209  et  seq.,  213,  214,  218; 
on  the  King's  generosity,  102, 
104;  at  the  head  of  tlie  depart- 
ment of  the  Fine  Arts,  245;  his 
report  upon  the  stage,  250;  of 
Talma,  251;  of  Rossini,  252;  aim 
to  raise  the  moral  level  of  the 
theatre,  254;  letters  of,  to  the 
King,  255. 

Rohan-Soubise,  Charlotte-Elisa- 
beth de,  87. 

Rosiiy,  the  pleasure  bouse  of  the 
Ducliess  of  Berry,  C5. 

Royal  Family,  members  and  titles 
of,  48. 


Rossini,  271 ;  first  representation 
of  his  works  in  Paris,  252. 

Saint-Denis,  royal  tombs  of,  21 
ct  seq.;  the  destruction  of,  by 
the  revolutionists,  22 ;  the  monu- 
ments saved  of,  by  Lenoir,  23; 
Napoleon's  intention  to  provide 
a  sepulture  for  himself  at,  24; 
remains  of  the  Bourbon's  re- 
covered and  reintcrred  in,  2(;; 
imprcssiveness  of  the  church  to- 
day, 36. 

Saverne,  reception  of  the  king  in, 
220. 

Schnetz,  250. 

Scribe,  Eugene,  invokes  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Duchess  of  Berry 
in  a  vaudeville,  258;  writes  for 
the  Gymnase,  259;  account  of 
his  life  and  career,  259  et  seq.; 
his  curious  piece  Avant,  Pen- 
dant, Apres,  2G3;  a  man  of  let- 
ters solely,  205. 

Scrofulous  patients  touched  by  the 
King  at  Rhcnms,  157. 

Seraine,  Abbe,  declaration  of,  con- 
cerning the  holy  ampulla,  127. 

Sevis,  Duke  de,  118. 

Strasbourg,  the  reception  of  the 
King  in,  221;  munitions  of  war 
in,  222. 

Talma,  251. 

Talleyrand,  Prince  de,  part  taken 

by,   at  the    obsequies  of    Louis 

XVIII.,  .33,  173,  191. 
Thierry,  Augustin,  248. 

Vaudemont,  Louise  de,  28. 

Vaulabelle,  M.  de,  quoted,  18,  173. 

Vedreniie,  Abbe,  on  the  character 
of  Charles  X.,  175;  on  the  duty 
of  the  governor  of  the  young 
prince,  lOfi;  quoted,  277. 

Veude'e,  the,  the  Duchess  of  Berry's 
visit  to,  225  et  seq.;  enthusiasm  of 
the  inhabitants  of,  for  her,  228. 

Vernet,  Horace,  248. 


INDEX 


30^ 


Victoriue,  Madame,  remains  of,  re- 
interred  in  Saiut-Denis,  27. 

Viguy,  Alfred  de,  his  (Jiaq  Mars, 
248. 

Viel-Castel,  M.  de,  as  to  the  policy 
of  Charles  X.,  44. 

Villele,  M.  de,  favorite  minister 
of  Charles  X.,  43;  knighted  by 
the  King,  155;  admits  to  the 
King  that  animosity  to  the  clergy 
was  displayed  during  the  expia- 
tory ceremony,  174 ;  assailed  by 
the  Guard,  204;  advises  the  King 


to  dissolve  National  Guard  of 
Paris,  205;  dismissed  by  the 
King,  21G;  in  relations  with, 
218 ;  letter  of  the  King,  220. 

Villemain,  M.,  quoted,  18;  on  the 
secret  of  Scribe's  success,  262. 

Villeneuve-r]6tang,  the  pleasure 
house  of  the  Duchess  of  Angou- 
leme,  65. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  281. 
Wiirtemberg,     King     of,      visits 
Charles  X.  at  Strasbourg,  222. 


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